Accruals processing within an electronic invoicing and budgeting system

ABSTRACT

A facility for conveying accrual amounts through an intermediary service is described. The facility permits vendors to each upload unbilled amounts for one or more matters for a client according to vendor-specific matter identifiers. The facility maps the vendor-specific identifiers for the uploaded unbilled amounts to client-specific identifiers. When the facility receives a request from the client to be you unbilled amounts for one or more matters, the facility displays to a client user the unbilled amounts for the requested matters according to the client-specific identifiers associated with the requested matters.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The described technology is directed to the field of automated projectplanning and billing tools.

BACKGROUND

Many companies and businesses use accrual basis accounting. With respectto accrued expenses (as opposed to accrued revenue), the process forobtaining and preparing the data needed to determine the amount ofaccrued expenses can be burdensome for both the company and its vendors.

For example, some vendors (e.g., law firms providing legal services)typically bill for their work on an hourly basis. Consequently, neitherthe law firm nor the company authorizing the legal work will know theexact amount of expenses incurred by the law firm on the company'sbehalf until (i) all the outside lawyers and the law firm's staff haveentered their time in the law firm's time & billing system, (ii) theresponsible users at the law firm have reviewed the time and made anyappropriate corrections, and (iii) the law firm has actually generatedan invoice for the work performed. Consequently, corporations rarelyreceive the actual invoice for worked performed until many days afterthe end of the month, and in some situations the company may not receiveits invoices until months after the work was performed. However, thecompany's finance department may need information about accrued expensesbefore the end of the month (or very soon after the end of them month)to timely prepare the company's financial statements. In this situation,the company must contact its law firms before having received anyinvoices. Moreover, if data must be provided before the end of themonth, the law firm will not know the exact amount of billing and canprovide only an estimate as to the future amount of time its users willincur through the end of the month.

Below are descriptions of three typical processes used by corporate lawdepartments for obtaining and providing accrual expense amounts to theirfinance departments. The first approach requires each law firm or vendor(collectively referred to as “firms” or “vendors”) to submit unbilledamounts in a spreadsheet at the end of the fiscal year. During the year,a corporate law department using this approach uses its internal companybudget (“Departmental Budget”) for the fiscal year to provide an accrualamount to the company's finance department at the end of each month. Forexample, assume the Departmental Budget contains $10,000 each month forspending by Firm A in Matter X. Consequently, each month the lawdepartment sends $10,000 as the accrual amount for Firm A in Matter X.

The second approach uses a multicolumn spreadsheet containing threecolumns for each month: one column for the original Departmental Budgetestimate for the month, a second column for the firm's estimate of itsinvoice amounts for the month, and the third column for the actualspending. Each row in the spreadsheet is a matter on which the firm isworking. Before the end of each month, firms are required to submittheir estimate of the amount to be billed for the month for each matter,which the company then enters into the master-multicolumn spreadsheet.At the same time the company will update the spending for eachapplicable month (assuming invoices have been received since the lasttime the spreadsheet was updated). Then, at the end of each month thecompany will produce an accrual amount by summing up the firm estimateof the invoice amounts for the current month and all prior months in thefiscal year, and subtract from that the sum of all actual spending. Theaccrual amount at the end of each month is determined by (i) adding allof the firms' billing estimates for each month through the end of thecurrent month and (ii) subtracting the sum of all the actual amountsinvoiced from each month. The purpose of the Departmental Budget columnis to provide a reality check each month when the firms submit theirbilling estimate for each month, but it is not actually used in thecalculation of the accrual.

The third approach requires each law firm or vendor to submit a finalinvoice for the fiscal year before the end of the fiscal year, and suchinvoice must include an extra line-item for the amount that the firm orvendor expects to bill for the remainder of the year. For example,assume that December is the final month in the fiscal year. The lawdepartment will instruct its firms to submit a final invoice for theyear by December 20, and the invoice must include all actual timethrough December 15 and a separate line item for an estimate of billingfrom December 16-31. The law department will then actually pay the fullamount of the invoice. The law firm will be instructed to then submitits actual invoice for December 16-31 time in January. If the firmoverestimated, then the excess amounts will be deducted from futureinvoices in the next year (and if the amount is too large, then the firmwill issue a reimbursement check). If the firm underestimated, then thecompany will pay the excess amount.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram showing a typical environment inwhich the facility operates.

FIGS. 2A-2C are display diagrams showing a typical user interface forconfiguring the budgeting and accrual capabilities.

FIG. 3A is a display diagram showing a typical cumulative burdenanalysis of the budget and accrual setup options displayed by thefacility to an end user.

FIGS. 3B and 3C are sample table diagrams relating to FIG. 3A showinghow the facility determines the cumulative burden analysis.

FIG. 4 is a display diagram showing how the facility displays datesapplicable to entering unbilled amounts (and other required events) tousers in some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a display diagram showing how the facility supports editing ofdates in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6A is a display diagram showing how the facility supportsconfiguration of a firm profile by company users so that the firm is notrequired to enter unbilled amounts or budget amounts.

FIG. 6B is a display diagram showing how the facility supports theconfiguration of a firm profile by firm users so that the firm candesignate the Primary and Backup Billing Managers, as well as whetherattorneys or billing managers enter unbilled amounts for the “CurrentMonth Estimate.”

FIG. 7A is a display diagram showing how the facility enables users toset up accrual and budget options for individual matters in someembodiments.

FIG. 7B is a display diagram showing how the facility enables users toset up accrual and budget options for a group of matters in someembodiments.

FIG. 8 is a display diagram showing how firms can configure the facilityto specify which type of user is responsible for entering the estimatedbilling for the current month.

FIG. 9 is a display diagram showing how the facility enables firms toenter their own matter numbers, to create a cross-reference table to thecompany's matters.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to ensure compliance with the accruals process specified by acompany.

FIG. 11 is a display diagram showing how the facility alerts firm usersthat unbilled amounts are due in some embodiments.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are display diagrams showing how the facility enablesfirm users to manually enter unbilled amounts in some embodiments.

FIG. 13A is a display diagram showing how the facility enables firmusers to upload a spreadsheet of unbilled amounts in some embodiments.

FIG. 13B is a display diagram showing a sample spreadsheet of unbilledamounts to be uploaded by a firm user.

FIG. 13C is a display diagram of a typical warning provided by thefacility to a firm user who has posted an invoice to a matter prior tothe Unbilled Amounts Input Due Date for which unbilled amounts havealready been entered.

FIG. 14 is a display diagram showing how the facility enables firmattorneys responsible for the estimated billing for the current month toview the budget estimate and the time entered for the current month andto edit the current month budget estimate, in some embodiments.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to calculate the accrual amounts.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to determine whether a firm user is required to enter budgetsfor a matter.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are display diagrams showing how the facility enablesa user editing a budget to prefill prior budget months with the spendingand unbilled amounts.

FIGS. 17C-17G are display diagrams showing various budget input formatsas displayed by the facility to the end user.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are sample table diagrams showing how the facilitydefines budget periods and stores monthly budget amounts.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to determine monthly budget amounts.

FIGS. 20A-20C are a flow diagram showing steps typically performed bythe facility to determine whether the facility shows dashboard alerts,sends email alerts, and displays matters on a “Company Financial ReviewPage” (i.e., a page that allows a company user to review and approve allpending financial data other than invoices).

FIG. 21 is a display diagram showing how the facility alerts companyusers if a Departmental Budget or Reforecast is due, or review of a lawfirm budget is required in some embodiments.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are display diagrams showing how the facility enablesa company user to review and approve all pending financial data with asingle click, or edit any such amounts, in some embodiments.

FIG. 23 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to determine whether financial amounts for a matter can beapproved by company users with one click.

FIG. 24 is a display diagram showing how the facility enables a companyuser to configure the facility to send accrual data to its financedepartment with each invoice, to allow the finance department to verifythat the accrual balances maintained by the finance department match theaccrual balances in the facility.

FIG. 25 is a table diagram showing a sample file to be sent by thefacility to a company's accounts payable department with approvedinvoice data and the related accrual data.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are a flow diagram showing steps typically performedby the facility to determine whether to show an invoice alert becausethe invoice amount exceeds the unbilled amounts in the applicableaccrual.

FIG. 27 is a display diagram of a sample invoice alert displayed by thefacility because the invoice amount exceeds the accrual remainingbalance.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

There are several disadvantages to the processes described above thatare typically used by corporate law departments to obtain and provideaccrual expense amounts to their finance departments.

There are several problems with first approach, in which each firm isrequired to submit unbilled amounts in a spreadsheet at the end of thefiscal year, and the corporate law department uses its internalDepartmental Budget to provide an accrual amount to the financedepartment for earlier accrual periods in the year. First, this methodof deriving each accrual amount prior to the end of the year from theDepartmental Budget may not be accurate. For example, assume the budgetamount for January is $10,000 and the budget amount for February is$10,000. At the end of February, if the firm has not submitted itsinvoice for January for $10,000, then using the February budget of$10,000 as the accrual will not be accurate because the actual accruedexpense should be $20,000. Second, at the end of the fiscal year whenthe firms submit unbilled amounts, the company must manually keep trackof whether it has received unbilled amount for all matters for whicheach firm should be submitting unbilled amounts. This is atime-consuming and error-prone process because firms sometimes don'tprovide this information as requested. Third, the data submitted by thefirms in the spreadsheets may not match the data needed by the lawdepartment. For example, the firms may have a different matterorganizational structure than the law department, so the law departmenthas to manually-cross correlate the list of matters each firm hassubmitted.

The second approach, in which the corporate law department uses amulticolumn spreadsheet, is intended to create more accurate accrualsthan the process used by the first approach. However, this approach hasseveral problems as well. First, it is a burdensome process for firmsevery month to provide an estimate of billing prior to the end of themonth. Second, because it is a burdensome process for firms, they do notalways timely provide the data, which creates a burden for the corporatelaw department to monitor and remind firms about the deadlines. Third,it is also burdensome for companies to incorporate the firm's data aswell as actual spending data into the spreadsheet. Someone must manuallycopy and paste the firm data into the master-multicolumn spreadsheet.Moreover, the list of matters can change and the firm's matters may notmatch the law department's matters on the spreadsheet. In addition tothe firm data, the actual invoice amounts must also be entered into theproper monthly column (i.e., the invoice may have been received by thecompany in May but it is for services rendered in February, andconsequently the spending needs to be entered in the February spendingcolumn in the spreadsheet). Fourth, if the spending entered for a monthdoes not match the firm's estimate for the month, the company may notknow whether all invoice amounts have been submitted, or whetheradditional invoices will be submitted, and therefore the differencebetween the actual spending and the firm estimate needs to be carriedforward for future accruals (and if not, then the firm's estimate amountneeds to be manually changed to the actual spending so that the accrualbalance is $0). As a work around, this approach sometimes provides forprohibiting law firms from submitting invoices more than one month inarrears. Such prohibitions meet with limited success. Fifth, the purposeof including the Departmental Budget amount in the spreadsheet is tocreate a cost control system for spending, but since the firms do nothave access to the company's spreadsheet, the budget data in thespreadsheet is not available to the firms when they are preparing thespending estimates.

In addition, there are several problems with the third approach, inwhich each vendor is required to submit an extra line-item in its finalinvoice for the amount the firm expects to bill for the rest of thefiscal year. First, the law department is paying the firm before it isnecessary, so the firm is receiving the benefit of the early payment.Second, the law department still has a manual process to track thefuture invoices against the line-item that was paid in the Decemberinvoice. Finally, if it is necessary to obtain a reimbursement from thefirm, that can be a burdensome process to monitor that the firm has infact provided a reimbursement check.

In addition to the disadvantages that these processes are burdensome andare not necessarily accurate, there are still other problems relating tothe generation of accrual data. Company users responsible for accrualsmust maintain and update contact lists, and send out emails and othercorrespondence for each accrual period. Frequently, these contact listswill become out of date, which complicates the notification process.

Moreover, the accrual amounts sent to the company's finance departmentmust not only include unbilled amounts of firms, they must also includeinvoices that firms have already sent to the company but which have notyet been sent to the company's finance department or been paid. Forexample, in June 2006, the Calgon Carbon Corp. fired its General Counselbecause “certain invoices for legal services . . . were not reported ina timely fashion . . . [or] were not reported in the correct quarter, insome cases.” Thus, if a company does not have a process for logging thereceipt of invoices, and determining if they have actually been sent tothe finance department, it cannot generate accurate accrual data.Moreover, even if the company has a system, it is a manual andburdensome process to combine the pending invoice data with the unbilledamounts received from firms. Finally, many finance departments alsorequire a special firm ID or code be provided with the accrual data,which is also a manual process for the user or department preparing theaccruals.

Finally, other than providing an accrual amount at the end of each monthto the finance department, the foregoing processes (and other variationsof the foregoing) do not have a reliable and automated means to providealerts to invoice reviewers that the invoice amount exceeds the accrualthat has been recorded, or to the finance department when an invoice issent to accounts payable (AP) for payment. Similarly, unless the accrualprocessing is built into a budgeting and electronic invoicing system,company users who are responsible for generating spending reforecastsfor the remainder of the year will not have the ability to automaticallyview the firm unbilled amounts together with the actual billed amountsto get a true budget v. spending comparison. Also, if the company doesnot have integrated systems, users may not be able to review and approveall pending financial data at one time (e.g., they can't review law firmunbilled amounts at the same time that they are reviewing budgetforecast data for the rest of the fiscal year).

Accordingly, a software facility that overcame some or all of theaforementioned shortcomings relating to the gathering of accrual data,the accuracy of accrual data, interactions with budget data, and use ofthe unbilled amounts and accrual data in an electronic invoicing andDepartmental Budgeting system would have significant utility tocorporate law departments, claims departments of insurance companies,and other entities managing projects involving third party serviceproviders such as law firms.

A software facility for receiving and processing data necessary togenerate monthly accruals within an electronic invoicing and budgetingsystem (the “facility”) is described. In some embodiments, the facilityprovides to both company users (such as corporate law department usersor insurance claims department users) and outside vendors (such as lawfirms, consulting firms, or other submitters of invoices, collectivelyreferred to as “firms” or “vendors”) access to one or more matters orprojects. Firms use the facility to post invoices for their work for thecompany. In some embodiments, firm or company users will enter thefirm's matter numbers from its financial system(s) into the matters thathave been created in the company's system to create a mattercross-reference table. In some embodiments, firms will also enterbudgets in advance of providing the services for the company. Thefacility also provides an interface for the firms to directly enterunbilled amounts. In some embodiments, the firms select a matter andmanually enter the unbilled amounts. In some embodiments, the firms canupload a spreadsheet or file of the firm's unbilled amounts. Thefacility assigns the unbilled amounts to the proper matters in thecompany's system using the cross reference table of the firm's matternumbers.

This approach has several advantages. First, if firms are required toinput the cross reference of the firm's matter numbers for uploadingelectronic invoices, the cross reference table will already exist foruploading the firm's unbilled amounts, and therefore they have to createsuch a cross reference table only once for multiple functions.Furthermore, firms can easily generate reports of unbilled amounts fromtheir time & billing system with the firm's own matter numbers, andusing that data they can upload the unbilled amounts into the company'ssystem without manually selecting each matter to which the unbilledamounts must be assigned.

In some embodiments, the facility includes functionality to ensure thatthe firms timely enter the unbilled amounts. In some embodiments, thefacility does not allow the firm to post invoices unless the unbilledamounts have been entered. In some embodiments, company users canconfigure the system to automatically send email alerts to firms whenunbilled amounts are due, and if the unbilled amounts have not beentimely entered, the facility (i) sends email alerts to the applicableusers at the firm, (ii) displays on-screen alerts to the applicableusers, and/or (iii) provides a report by which either company users orfirm users can identify which firms and which users have not providedunbilled amounts.

The facility may have functionality to ensure that unbilled amounts andposted invoices are not double-counted. For example, if the due date forposting unbilled amounts is June 20, and if the firm posts unbilledamounts on June 17 and then later posts invoices on June 20, if thoseinvoice amounts were included in the unbilled amounts, there is a riskthat the unbilled amount is duplicative of the invoice amount.Accordingly, in some embodiments, the facility causes some or all of thefollowing to occur: (i) provide a warning to firm and/or company usersif a firm posts an invoice after the unbilled amounts for the matterhave been posted but before the unbilled amounts posting due date; (ii)prevent the firm from posting invoices to any matter after the unbilledamounts for the matter have been posted but before the unbilled amountsposting due date; (iii) prevent the firm from posting any invoicesduring the unbilled amounts posting period (regardless of whetherunbilled amounts have been posted during the period); (iv) allow thefirm to upload invoices into the facility but omit to deliver them ormake them available to the company; and/or (v) automatically reduce theunbilled amount by the amount of the posted invoice (and provide analert and/or email notification to the applicable firm users that theunbilled amount has automatically been reduced). The facility might usethe same methods to ensure that unbilled amounts and posted invoices arenot double-counted if the company reviews the unbilled amounts and thefirm posts an invoice during the period in which the company reviews theunbilled amounts (which would be after the unbilled amounts posting duedate).

Also, where company users review and approve unbilled amounts prior tothe end of the accrual period, in some embodiments, the facilityincludes functionality to ensure that the accrual amounts do not includeinvoice amounts that are sent to AP after the accrual amounts aredelivered to the company's finance department. For example, if theaccrual amounts are sent to the company's finance department on the25^(th) of the month, but if the law department sends an approvedinvoice to AP after the accrual amounts have been delivered to thefinance department but before the end of the month, then there is a riskthat the unapproved amounts should not have included the invoice amountsent to AP. In some embodiments, the facility (i) prevents the lawdepartment from sending such approved invoices to AP or (ii) provides awarning to the law department before sending such approved invoices toAP.

In some cases, the company requires the firms to provide unbilledamounts prior to the end of the accrual period. In such cases, thefacility may require the firms to provide two unbilled amounts: allunbilled amounts for the current fiscal year through the last fullcalendar month and the estimated billing for the current month. In someembodiments, the facility provides the ability for a firm user to uploadthe amounts already incurred for the current month (the “WIP,” or “workin progress,” for the current month), which can be displayed to the firmusers responsible for the unbilled amounts, but such amounts will not beshown to company users (because the firm may not want the company toview its WIP for the current month). In some embodiments, the facilitydisplays to the firm users responsible for approving the estimatedbilling for the current month the current month budget estimate and theWIP in the same screen, with the ability to easily approve the existingbudget amounts as the estimated billing for the current month or to editthe amounts. In some embodiments, the facility does not require the firmto enter an estimated billing for the current month because the facilitywill prorate the WIP to generate an estimated billing amount for theentire month.

In some embodiments, the facility automatically estimates the unbilledamount from a budget for the matter, which when combined with thepending invoices that have not been sent to AP is the accrual. Thisapproach typically provides the benefit of reducing the burdens on lawfirms. For example, firms can be required to manually enter unbilledamounts only at the end of the fiscal year. During the other months, thefacility automatically generates the accrual by summing (i) the amountof invoices pending in the facility that have not been sent to AP forpayment plus (ii) the firm unbilled amount that is calculated from abudget. This approach creates the least burden on firms, yet stillallows a company to send materially accurate accruals to its financedepartment every month. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the facilityrequires firms to manually enter unbilled amounts only at the end ofeach quarter. This is a greater burden on firms, but still does notrequire the firms to manually enter unbilled amounts each month. Usingbudgets to estimate only the unbilled amounts is also typically superiorto using budgets to estimate the entire accrual, because the pendinginvoice data is actually known and determinable, and only the unbilledamount is estimated.

In some embodiments, the company can choose whether to activate aDepartmental Budgeting module. If activated, the module allows thecompany to create processes for obtaining a fiscal year budget for thelaw department (called the “Departmental Budget”), and for obtainingperiodic reforecasts of the total year spending, so that the lawdepartment can assess spending against the original Departmental Budget.When setting up the module, the company can select for all matters, orfor individual matters, whether the firms' budgets will be used for theDepartmental Budget and Reforecasts, or whether the company will enter aseparate Departmental Budget and Reforecast (in which case thecompany-entered budget amount will not be visible by the firm users). Ifthe Departmental Budgeting module is activated, for any month in whichfirms' unbilled amounts are calculated from a budget, the budget that isused is the most recent Departmental Budget or Reforecast. On the otherhand, if the Departmental Budgeting module is not activated, then thefirms' budget, if any, would always be used to estimate the unbilledamounts for an accrual.

In some embodiments, the facility can be set up to include accrualinformation with approved invoice data that is sent to the company's APdepartment for payment. For example, the invoice payment file can beconfigured to include the accrual against which the invoice applies, theoriginal accrual amounts, the balance prior to the invoice, and thebalance after the invoice is paid.

In some embodiments, the facility uses the unbilled amounts for otherpurposes besides just calculating the accrual amount. For example, whena user edits a budget, the facility presents a user interface forprefilling prior spending and unbilled amounts as the budget amount forthose months. In some embodiments, spending reports and actual-to-budgetreports include an option to include unbilled amounts in the spendingtotals. In some embodiments, the user interface presented to companyusers when reviewing spending amounts to determine reforecasts for theyear includes unbilled amounts. In some embodiments, when a firm userposts an invoice to a matter prior to the unbilled amounts posting duedate and unbilled amounts were previously entered for the matter, thesystem provides a warning to the firm user that unbilled amounts havealready been posted and should be modified if the unbilled amountsinclude the amount of this invoice. In some embodiments, when a companyuser is reviewing a pending invoice, the system displays an alert if theinvoice amounts against the applicable accrual exceed the unbilledamounts of the accrual.

In some embodiments, if the facility has both budget and accrualcapabilities, the facility provides a cumulative analysis of thefinancial workflows created and the burdens imposed by the company'ssystem setup. In addition, in some embodiments, the facility makes itpossible for a company user to review unbilled amounts, pending budgets,and pending reforecasts on one screen, with an option for one-clickapproval so long as all of the conditions for approving unbilledamounts, pending budgets, and pending reforecasts have been satisfied.In such a case, the facility has setup options to ensure that databecomes due on the same date, so that users can review all pending dataat the same time.

Details of how the facility may be implemented are described below inconjunction with FIGS. 1-27.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram showing a typical environment inwhich the facility operates. The block diagram shows several showsseveral client computer systems (which are company users and outsidefirm users), such as client computer systems 110, 120, 130, and 140.Each of the client computer systems has a web client computer programfor browsing the World Wide Web, such as web clients 111, 121, 131, and141. The client computer systems are connected via the Internet 150 to aserver computer system 160 hosting the facility. Those skilled in theart will recognize that client computer systems could be connected tothe server computer system by networks other than the Internet, however.To be able to connect to the server computer system, each clientcomputer system must properly authenticate itself to the server computersystem, such as by providing user ID and password, or using otherauthentication technology.

The server computer system 160 contains a memory 170. The memory 170preferably contains the facility 171, incorporating matter managementfunctionality 172, electronic invoicing functionality 173, and accrualsfunctionality 174 typically used by the facility. The memory preferablyfurther contains a web server computer program 175 for delivering webpages in response to requests from web clients. While items 171-175 arepreferably stored in memory while being used, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that these items, or portions of them, may betransferred between memory and a persistent storage device 183 forpurposes of performing memory management and maintaining data integrity.The server computer system further contains one or more centralprocessing units (CPU) 181 for executing programs, such as programs171-175, and a computer-readable media drive 182 for reading informationor installing programs such as the facility from computer-readablemedia, such as a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, or a DVD.

While various embodiments are described in terms of the environmentdescribed above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thefacility may be implemented in a variety of other environments includinga single, monolithic computer system, as well as various othercombinations of computer systems or similar devices connected in variousways. Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thefacility may be implemented using various software configurations, suchas configurations in which the matter management, electronic invoicing,and/or accruals software are merged, or other configurations in whichtheir functionality is divided across a larger number of modules, and/ordistributed over multiple computer systems.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are portions of a typical user interface presentedby the facility to enable the user to configure the use of budgets andaccruals. In these figures, the configuration options of budgets andaccruals are shown on a single web page because of the interrelationshipof many of the settings; however, a person skilled in the art willrecognize that these configuration options could be divided into two ormore web pages, or could be configured through database settings ratherthan a web page in the application interface. In some embodiments, thefacility provides a control 210 for specifying the default format forentering a fiscal year budget. The control 210 includes an option 211 toenter a single budget amount for the entire fiscal year, an option 212to enter a budget amount for each quarter, and an option 213 to enter abudget amount for each month. In some embodiments, this setting willapply to all matters, while in other embodiments this setting might be adefault setting which can be changed in the individual matters. (See,for example, 709 in FIG. 7A.) In some embodiments, the facility providesa security setting control 214 for specifying which users have authorityto edit and approve budgets and accrual amounts. The control 214includes an option 215 to limit the users that have editing and approvalprivileges to company matter administrators or to other users or groupsof users. A person skilled in the art will recognize that otherembodiments may have a different security configuration such thatbudgets and accruals are set up separately, by matter or by groups ofmatters, or by the amount of the budget or accrual to be approved. Insome embodiments the facility provides a control 216 for specifying thedeadline for entry of next year's fiscal year budget. The control 216includes an option 217 to select the deadline month and an option 218 toview a calendar of events. The deadline selected in control 216 willalso be set in control 231 as shown in FIG. 2B as the deadline for anyDepartmental Budgets if the Departmental Budgeting/Reforecasting Moduleis activated in control 219.

In some embodiments, a company user can activate a special module incontrol 219 to require a “Departmental Budget” and Reforecaststhroughout the year. A Departmental Budget is a budget for the upcomingfiscal year that is created by or imposed on a company or departmentwithin the company for planning purposes and tracking spendingthroughout the fiscal year. Reforecasts are estimates of spending thatmay be obtained one or more times throughout the fiscal year todetermine the progress of spending against the Departmental Budget forthe fiscal year. If activated, there may be several additionalconfiguration options. In some embodiments, the facility provides acontrol 220 to specify the default method for generating DepartmentalBudgets and Reforecasts for each fiscal year. The control 220 includesan option 221 to use specific firm budgets from each matter to createthe total Departmental Budget (as well as for Reforecasts), and anoption 222 to require company users to enter a “company matter budget”for each matter, which cannot be edited or viewed by firms. In theembodiments shown in FIG. 2A, these are default settings that can bechanged within individual matters. However, a person skilled in the artwill recognize that there could be other configuration controls andoptions, such as a setting that specifies the configuration for allmatters or groups of matters in the system, rather than merely being adefault setting.

In the embodiments shown in FIG. 2B, if a company matter budget is to beused for the Departmental Budget and/or Reforecasts, a company user usescontrol 223 to specify how company matter budgets should be entered ineach matter. A company user may select an option 224 to specify that asingle company budget is entered for all firms in each matter, or anoption 225 to specify that a separate company budget is entered for eachfirm in each matter. A person skilled in the art will recognize thatthis configuration option could be instead specified for groups ofmatters or in each individual matter. In some embodiments, the facilityprovides a control 225 for specifying how often a Reforecast should begenerated. The control may include an option 226 to specify in whichmonths a Reforecast is to be prepared; an option 227 to merely alertusers to review budget amounts for the Reforecast and an alternateoption 228 to require users to take an action to update or approve thecurrent budget amounts; an option 229 to specify the date by which theupdate/approval must occur; and an option 230 that provides the userwith the ability to edit such dates.

Turning to FIG. 2C, in some embodiments, the facility displays a control240 that the user can manipulate to activate a special accrualfunctionality module. If activated, there may be several additionalconfiguration options. In some embodiments, the facility provides acontrol 241 to specify when firms will be required to provide unbilledamounts. A company user can choose an option 242 to receive unbilledamounts from firms before the accrual period ends or, alternatively, anoption 243 to receive unbilled amounts after the end of the accrualperiod. In some embodiments, if unbilled amounts are to be enteredbefore the end of the accrual period, the facility provides otheroptions, such as an option 244 to require firms to enter a billingestimate for the entire month (even though the month is only partiallycompleted), or, alternatively, an option 245 to require firms to enterthe unbilled amounts through a specified date in the current month andthe facility will estimate the entire month amount by prorating thepartial month amount. A person skilled in the art will recognize thatsome embodiments may not require a specified date, and instead thefirms, when posting unbilled amounts, enter the date through whichunbilled amounts are being entered (the entry of such a date would be ona page for uploading a spreadsheet of unbilled amounts such as shown inFIG. 13A). Other “before-the-end-of-the-month” options could include anoption 246 to require company users to review and approve firms'unbilled amounts (because the current month amount will be an estimate).In some embodiments, the facility provides a control 247 to specify howfrequently firms will be required to manually input unbilled amounts. Acompany user can choose an option 248 to receive unbilled amounts fromfirms once at the end of the fiscal year, an option 249 to receiveunbilled amounts quarterly, or an option 250 to receive unbilled amountseach month. A person skilled in the art will recognize that there couldbe different configuration options. For example, the facility mayprovide a list of all months in the fiscal year and enable a companyuser to select specific months for receiving unbilled amounts. In someembodiments, if a company user does not select to receive unbilledamounts from firms every month, the user can select an option 251 tospecify that, during months in which firms do not enter unbilledamounts, an accrual will nevertheless be generated from budget data(i.e., the budget is used to estimate the unbilled amounts).

In some embodiments, the facility has a button or link 252 that the usercan click to view an analysis of the cumulative burdens imposed by theselected budget and accrual setup options. A person skilled in the artwill recognize that such button or link could be located elsewhere inthe application interface, and such analysis may include other financialfactors besides budgets and accruals.

FIG. 3A is a typical user interface presented by the facility to displaya cumulative burden analysis of the budget and accrual setup options.When the user clicks the button or link (e.g., button or link 252 inFIG. 2C) to view the cumulative burden analysis, a web page 300 isdisplayed. In some embodiments the cumulative analysis includes agraphical representation 301 of the relative cumulative burden, as wellas an explanation 302 of the comparison to the average law department(the average cumulative burden is established using data from the setupconfigurations of all companies or similarly situated companies usingthe facility). In some embodiments, the facility displays othercomparative information, such as a display of a graphical representationof the other law departments and the law department's location on thegraph. In addition, the cumulative analysis page provides an analysis303 of the settings that create the most burdens, with suggestionsregarding how to reduce the burdens.

FIGS. 3B and 3C are sample table diagrams relating to FIG. 3A showinghow the facility determines the cumulative burden analysis. In someembodiments, a ranking is given to each answer to the configurationoptions shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, and in other embodiments aweighting may be given to only certain question and answers. The table320 shown in FIG. 3B contains the burden rating for selected questionsand answers. For example, if the answer to Question 1 in FIG. 2A isMonthly, as indicated in cell 321, then a burden rating of 3 isassigned, as indicated in cell 322. If the answer to Question 5.2 inFIG. 2C is Quarterly, as indicated in cell 323, then the rating is 1, asindicated by element 324, but if the answer is Monthly, as indicated incell 325, then the rating is 4, as indicated by element 326. If thetable 320 does not specify a burden rating for a question or answer, theburden rating is zero.

The table 330 shown in FIG. 3C shows how the facility determines thecumulative burden using the values from the prior table 320 shown inFIG. 3B. In each column 331, the table shows the answer selected foreach of the relevant questions and its corresponding point value. Thefacility sums the point values for all of the relevant questions togenerate a cumulative burden score, as depicted in each cell 332. Thiscumulative burden score is then displayed to the company user as shownin FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to displaythe dates applicable to entering unbilled amounts (and other requiredevents). For each month 401, the display shows a column 402 of theevents that will become due of law firm users and a column 403 of theevents that will become due of company users, and columns 404 of thevarious dates relating to those events. This display shows how theevents for a month are synchronized to occur at the same time. A personskilled in the art will recognize that there may be other types ofevents that are not shown in this example, and that there may be somesituations where some events will have a unique set of dates that arenot synchronized with the other events for the month.

FIG. 5 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enablethe user to view and edit the unbilled amount due dates and the reviewdates. In some embodiments, the company user can set due dates for eachindividual month. In other embodiments, the facility consolidatescertain months to reduce the amount of data entry. For example, thedates entered in section 501 for January-November will apply to eachmonth from January through November, and the dates entered in section502 for December will apply only to December. There may be multipledates relating to each event. For example, the facility may require afirm input due date 503, from which an earlier notification date 504 andreminder date 505 can also be specified. The facility may also require acompany input due date 506, a company notification date 507, and acompany reminder date 508. Such dates may apply to all events thatbecome due for the applicable month. For example, if a company requiredfirms to provide accruals and a status report in August and the year was2007, then according to the sample values in FIG. 5, the facility wouldsend an initial notification on Jul. 24, 2007, a reminder notification(if the status report and accrual had not been provided for the matter)on August 3, and the last day for entering the status report and accrualwould be August 6. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 5, the dates applyto all events that have been specified for the month. However, a personskilled in the art will recognize that the facility could enable thecompany to specify the events to which the calendar dates apply.Moreover, if firms are required to enter unbilled amounts after the endof the month (as shown by option 242 in FIG. 2C), there may be aseparate calendar of events for events that become due before the monthand after the month.

FIG. 6A is a typical user interface presented by the facility to acompany user to enable the user to configure a firm profile so that thefirm is not required to enter unbilled amounts or budget amounts. Insome embodiments, the administrative page 600 for a firm contains aglobal setting 601 to specify that the firm is never required to enterbudgets and a global setting 602 to specify that the firm is neverrequired to enter unbilled amounts.

FIG. 6B is a typical user interface presented by the facility to a firmuser to enable the user to configure a firm profile 610 so that the firmuser can specify the billing managers who will be responsible forreceiving notices about unbilled amounts that are due. The firm user canselect a link or button 611 to specify a primary billing manager and alink or button 612 to specify a backup billing manager. In addition, thefirm profile contains a control 613 to specify who is to manually enterthe current month estimate if unbilled amounts are required to beentered before the end of the month (as in option 242 in FIG. 2C). Afirm user may select an option 614 to specify that attorneys are toenter budget amounts or an alternative option 615 to specify thatbilling clerks are to enter budget amounts on behalf of attorneys.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are typical user interfaces presented by the facility toenable the user to configure accrual and budget options for individualmatters and for groups of matters. For each matter created in thesystem, the facility presents a display 700 for specifying matteroptions affecting workflows and other information about the matter. Insome embodiments, if the Departmental Budgeting module has beenactivated (e.g., control 219 in FIG. 2A), the matter options include anoption 701 that specifies whether a Departmental Budget and Reforecastsare required. In some embodiments, an option 702 allows the user toselect to use the firm matter budget, and an alternative option 703allows the user to select to use a separate company budget. A personskilled in the art will recognize that the option to turn on or off therequirement may be affected by the configuration options for the entirefacility (such as the options shown in FIGS. 2A-2C). In someembodiments, the matter options include an option 704 that specifieswhether to generate accruals for the matter. If accruals are to begenerated, in some embodiments the facility provides a control 705 thatenables the company user to specify whether to require firms to enterunbilled amounts. A person skilled in the art will recognize that thefacility may display each firm with access to the matter, and allow thecompany user to specify the requirement with respect to each firm. Inaddition, the option to turn on or off the requirement may be affectedby the configuration options for the entire facility (such as theoptions shown in FIGS. 2A-2C). Moreover, as indicated by option 706,companies may give firms access to the matter in a manner that will notrequire entry of unbilled amounts. If a company user selects an option707 specifying that the facility is to generate unbilled amounts frombudgets, then the user must either select an option 701 to activate theDepartmental Budget feature for the matter, or select an option 708requiring firm budgets for the matter.

Turning to FIG. 7B, in some embodiments, matters are assigned to amatter group, and the facility presents a display 710 for specifyingmatter group options. The matter group options contain a control 711 forspecifying whether budgets and accruals are generated at the mattergroup level or for individual matters. If the user selects the optionspecifying that budget and accruals are to be generated at the mattergroup level, then, similar to the options presented for individualmatters, the facility presents an option 712 specifying whether torequire a Departmental Budget and Reforecasts for the matter group, anda control 713 specifying whether to generate an accrual for the mattergroup (both of which will be amounts for all matters assigned to thematter group). If an accrual is to be generated, in some embodiments thefacility presents a secondary selection between an option 714 specifyingthat firms are required to input unbilled amounts in each matter and anoption 715 specifying that firms are not required to enter unbilledamounts. In such embodiments, the matter group functionality is suchthat a firm is not given access to a matter group and therefore cannotenter unbilled time directly into the matter group, but a person skilledin the art will recognize that the matter group functionality could bealtered so that firms could enter unbilled amounts directly into thematter group.

FIG. 8 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enable afirm user to configure the facility to specify which type of firm useris responsible for entering the estimated billing for the current month.(The estimated billing for the current month can arise if the companyhas set up its system so that the firms just enter unbilled amountsbefore the end of the accrual period—see FIG. 2C.) If the firm userselects an option 801 specifying that attorneys will manually enter theamount, then the attorneys will receive the dashboard alerts that theestimated billing for the current month is due (see FIG. 11). If, on theother hand, the firm selects an option 802 specifying that the billingclerks will enter the amount, the then billing clerks will beresponsible for obtaining that information from attorneys and enteringthe information with the other unbilled amounts from their time andbilling system. A person skilled in the art will recognize that in someembodiments, the firm makes this selection once for all clients, whilein other embodiments the firm is required to make this selection foreach client's system. In addition, in some embodiments, this selectionapplies to the entire firm, while in other embodiments the selection ismade for each office of the firm (for those firms who have differentoperating structures for each office).

FIG. 9 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enablefirms to enter their own matter numbers, to create a cross-referencetable to the company's matters. The facility displays each matter 901that the company has created for which the firm has been assigned tobill work. For each such matter, the firm can enter the client number902 and matter number 903 from its time and billing system. The facilityalso enables the firm to enter more than one series of numbers 904 foreach company matter. Those skilled in the art will recognize that inother embodiments, company users enter this information on behalf offirm users.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to ensure compliance with the accruals process specified by acompany. The facility determines whether the company has imposed anaccruals process, reminds firm users when unbilled amounts are due, andalerts company users to review such unbilled amounts as necessary. If ata decision block 1001 an accruals module has been activated, at adecision block 1002 the company setup specifies that the current monthis one in which firms are required to input unbilled amounts, at adecision block 1003 the company requires the firm to enter unbilledamounts, and at a decision block 1004 there are one or more matters setup for which the firm is required to enter unbilled amounts, then at ablock 1005 the facility sends an email to the firm users on the Law FirmInput Start Date (as specified in the calendar of events—see FIG. 4),and displays alerts within the system to the firm users. These userscould include the Responsible Billing Manager or the Backup ResponsibleBilling Manager as designated by the firm user via buttons 611 and 612in FIG. 6B. In some embodiments, emails and alerts could also be sent toany firm user that has posted an invoice in a recent time period, or anyfirm user that has access to the firm matters. Because these users areautomatically maintained by the firm and/or are based on data andactions in the system, company users no longer have to maintain a manuallist of contacts for sending accrual notifications. If at a decisionblock 1006 the firm user has entered all the unbilled amounts, at ablock 1007 the facility turns off the dashboard and other alerts for theuser. Alternatively, if at block 1006 a firm user has not entered allunbilled amounts due, at a block 1008 the facility sends a Law FirmReminder Email to each firm user on the date specified in the calendarof events. Once the Law Firm Due Date passes, at a block 1009 thefacility turns off all alerts for firm users. If at a decision block1010 the facility is configured to require company user review of theunbilled amounts, then at a block 1011 the facility sends an email tothe company users on the Company Input Start Date, and displays alertsto company users. If at a decision block 1012 the company user hasreviewed and/or updated the unbilled amounts, at a block 1013 facilityturns off the dashboard and other alerts for the user. Alternatively, ifat block 1012 the company user has not reviewed and/or updated theunbilled amounts, at a block 1014 the facility sends a Company ReminderEmail to each company user on the date specified in the calendar ofevents. Once the Company Input Cutoff Date passes, at a block 1015 thefacility turns off the alerts and generates the accrual, as shown inFIG. 23.

FIG. 11 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to alertfirm users that unbilled amounts are due. For those users that areidentified as firm billing clerks and have unbilled amounts that aredue, the dashboard displays an alert 1101 of the number of companymatters for which such unbilled amounts are due. If firm attorneys areset up to enter the estimated billing for the current month (as shown inFIG. 6B) (which in some embodiments is used in the calculation of thetotal unbilled amount), the firm attorneys will see a separate alert1102 of the number of matters for which such amount is due. (On theother hand, if the firm has been set up so that the billing clerks enterthe estimated billing for the current month (as shown in FIG. 6B), thenin this particular embodiment the alert for the estimated billing willbe made part of the alert 1101 for the unbilled amounts.)

FIGS. 12A and 12B are typical user interfaces presented by the facilityto enable firm billing clerk users to manually enter unbilled amounts.The display 1200 shows each matter 1208 in a company's system for whichthe firm is required to enter unbilled amounts. The facility provides acontrol 1201 for specifying the posting method for unbilled amounts. Thefirm user selects an option 1202 to manually input the amounts, or analternative option 1203 to upload amounts from a spreadsheet. Thebilling clerk is always responsible for entering the prior months'unbilled amounts in column 1204 (which it can obtain directly from thefirm's time and billing system). The firm user accesses the edit form byclicking the edit action 1205, which opens the dialog window displayedin FIG. 12B. A person skilled in the art will recognize that thefacility could provide an edit box on this page rather than a dialogwindow. If the billing clerk has also been set up to enter the estimatedbilling for the current month, column 1206 is also displayed to the firmuser, and the firm user can click the edit action 1207 to access theedit form.

FIG. 12B shows a typical user interface displayed by the facility toenable the firm user to edit the unbilled amount in a field 1211 (and ifresponsible for the estimated billing for the current month, a field1212 is also editable). In some embodiments, the facility provides acontrol 1213 for the firm user to specify the currency of the amountsbeing entered. In some embodiments, the firm also uploads and displayshours and amount to date for the current month, which the facilitydisplays as element 1214, so that the user entering the estimatedbilling for the current month has easy access to the most recent dataregarding work that has been incurred for the current month. In someembodiments, the input form includes a control 1215 that requires thefirm to select the office (which is important data for passing to thecompany's finance department, because many times the firm ID in thefirm's AP systems is based on the firm office). In some embodiments, thedialog window displayed to firm users does not show accrual data (e.g.,the accrual period ending balance); instead it only shows data relevantto the law firm, which includes unbilled amounts, invoices postedagainst the unbilled amounts, and the remaining balance of the unbilledamounts.

FIG. 13A is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enablea firm user to upload a spreadsheet of unbilled amounts. If the userselects an option 1301 to upload a spreadsheet of unbilled amounts(which is the same selection as option 1202 in FIG. 12A), then thefacility adjusts the rest of web page 1300 to display the fields foruploading a spreadsheet. The facility provides a control 1302 for thefirm user to select the currency of the unbilled amounts being uploaded.A person skilled in the art will recognize that the currency couldinstead be contained in the spreadsheet that is uploaded. In someembodiments, the input form includes a control 1303 that requires thefirm to select the office (which is important data for passing to thecompany's finance department, because many times the firm ID in thefirm's AP systems is based on the firm office). In some embodiments, theweb page includes a control 1304 that allows the firm user to specifythe form of the data being uploaded, or the structure of the data beinguploaded (for example, in some embodiments the upload option could beXML, or a flat file with a different column organization). The web pagealso contains a control 1305 to attach the file of unbilled amounts tobe uploaded. If the company has required unbilled amounts to be postedbefore the end of the month, and if the company allows the firm toupload unbilled amounts for a partial amount of the current month (asshown in option 245 in FIG. 2C), then the user interface displays a datethrough which unbilled time must be entered as specified by the company,or, if no such date has been specified, then the user interface providesa field for the firm user to enter a date through which unbilled amountswill be entered. When such partial month amounts are uploaded, thefacility automatically calculates the “Current Month Estimated Billing”(as shown at 1504 a in FIG. 15) by prorating the partial month amountentered by the firm.

FIG. 13B is a display diagram showing a sample spreadsheet 1310 ofunbilled amounts to be uploaded by a firm user. The spreadsheet containsa column 1311 for the firm's CLIENT_ID and a column 1312 for the firm'sLAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID, which can be obtained from its time and billingsystem. The spreadsheet contains a column 1313 for theUNBILLED_THRULASTMONTH. If the firm is required to enter unbilledamounts before the end of the accrual period, the spreadsheet alsocontains a column 1314 for the CURRENT_MONTH_ESTIMATE. When the firmuploads the spreadsheet, the facility matches the CLIENT_ID andLAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID to the client and matter table that has been enteredinto the facility as shown in FIG. 9, and posts the unbilled amountsfrom column 1313 and, if applicable, from column 1314. If the firm hasmore than one matter number applicable to a matter in the facility (see,for example 904 in FIG. 9), then the facility automatically totals theunbilled amounts for each matter. This auto-totaling typically saveseffort on the part of firm employees because it enables the firm togenerate a spreadsheet directly from its time and billing system withoutworrying about having to consolidate unbilled amounts based on how thecompany's matters are set up in the facility. In addition, if thecompany has required unbilled amounts to be posted before the end of themonth, and if the company allows the firm to upload unbilled amounts fora partial amount of the current month (as shown in option 245 in FIG.2C), then amount contained in column 1314 for theCURRENT_MONTH_ESTIMATE_is a partial amount for the month, and thefacility will prorate the partial month amount to calculate an estimatefor the full month.

FIG. 13C is a typical user interface presented by the facility to ensurethat a firm user does not enter an amount during an accrual period thatwas already entered as an unbilled amount (i.e., a method to ensure thatan amount isn't double entered both in the unbilled amount and as aninvoice). If the firm has entered an unbilled amount for the applicableaccrual period, and then posts an invoice to the same matter before theunbilled amounts due date (i.e., before the unbilled amounts aredelivered to the company for review), then the facility displays analert or warning message to the firm user posting the invoice (in FIG.13C, the alert 1351 is displayed for invoice number 1982-331 1350. Ifthe firm user posts the invoice after the unbilled amounts due date butbefore the company has completed its review (i.e., before the accrual isgenerated), in various embodiments, the facility (i) does not allow theinvoice to be posted (so that the pending invoice amount will not beincluded in the accrual amount), (ii) automatically reduces the unbilledamount from the currently pending unbilled amount previously posted bythe firm, or (iii) allows the invoice to be uploaded by the firm, butdoes not deliver the invoice to the company or include it in anyunbilled amounts that comprise the accrual. In the example of (iii), thefacility automatically delivers the invoice for the firm after thecompany review period has expired and the facility has generated theaccrual amounts for the accrual period. Techniques for delivering,omitting to deliver, and delaying delivery of the invoice to the companyare further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/923,606,filed on Aug. 20, 2004, which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FIG. 14 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enablefirm attorneys responsible for the estimated billing for the currentmonth to view the budget estimate and the time entered (if uploaded by afirm for the estimated billing for the current month) for the currentmonth and to edit the current month budget estimate. The web page 1400shows all of the matter-related data that an attorney needs to reviewand/or update. The user can access this page by clicking on the alert1102 shown in FIG. 11, or the user can navigate to the page using othernavigation links. In the example in FIG. 14, there is only one matterwith matter that requires review and/or update—Acme—Business Matter1401. With respect to budget data 1402, the user must approve or updatethe estimated billing amount 1403 for the current month, the forecastamount 1404 for the rest of the year, and a budget amount 1405 for thenext fiscal year. In some cases, the firm may have already uploadedpartial billing data for the current month. For example, if the firmuser was viewing this web page on July 20, the facility may display datapreviously uploaded by the firm's billing clerks from the firm's timeand billing system, including the total number of hours 1406 billed todate in July, as well as the amount of fees 1407 for those hours. Insome embodiments, the facility also shows expenses. This data is usefulfor the attorney reviewing the estimated billing for the current month(in this case $15,000 for July). If the budget data is correct asdisplayed, the user can click the “No change” action 1408. However,because the 2007 fiscal year budget has not been provided, the facilitydisplays an error message if the user clicks “No change” which explainsthat the 2007 fiscal year budget must be provided. The user can edit anyof the budget data by clicking the “View/Edit” action 1409, which insome embodiments causes the facility to display a new dialog window (asshown in FIG. 12B) and in other embodiments causes the facility todisplay an edit box directly on the web page 1400. Other types of matterdata that may be shown on this web page 1400 are the current matterstatus 1410, other matter profile data 1411, documents needingreview/approval, and any other data maintained by the system. If theuser reviewing the data has either clicked the action for “No change” or“View/Edit” and has made changes in the edit form, then in someembodiments, a green checkmark 1412 is displayed showing that this datahas been approved or updated. If all of the data for a matter has beenapproved or updated, then the facility removes the matter from the webpage.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to calculate the accrual with respect to a matter (which isalso called the “accrual period ending balance”). The accrual periodending balance calculated at a block 1511 is the sum of the UnbilledAmounts Total calculated at one of blocks 1508, 1509, or 1510 plus theInvoices that have been delivered by the firm but have not been approvedor delivered to the company's AP department for payment. In variousembodiments, the facility obtains the Unbilled Amounts Total indifferent ways. If at a decision block 1501 this is a month in whichfirms do not input unbilled amounts, then when the lockdown event occursat a block 1507 c, the facility estimates the Unbilled Amounts Totalfrom the applicable budget at a block 1510. For example, if a firm hasentered a budget for the matter, the facility estimates the UnbilledAmount Total from that firm budget. Or, if the company has entered aDepartmental Budget and/or Reforecast for the matter, then the facilitycalculates the Unbilled Amount Total for all firms in the matter fromthat budget. In some embodiments, the facility compares the calculatedUnbilled Amounts Total to the sum of the Invoices with Delivery on Holdand Other Withheld Amounts, and uses the greater of the two values. Ifat block 1501 this is a month in which firms input unbilled amount, andif at a decision block 1502 the company has configured the facility torequire unbilled amounts after the end of the accrual period, then thefirms' billing clerks generate the “Prior Months Unbilled Amount” foreach matter directly from their time and billing system, and enter orupload the data into the facility at a block 1506. After the accrualperiod lockdown event occurs at a block 1507 b, the facility generatesthe Unbilled Amounts Total at a block 1509 by summing the Prior MonthsUnbilled Amount entered at block 1506, Invoices with Delivery on Hold(i.e., invoices that the firm has saved into the facility, but whichhave not been delivered to the client for review and payment), and otherwithheld amounts. Alternatively, if at block 1502 the company hasconfigured the facility to require unbilled amounts before the end ofthe accrual period, at a decision block 1503 the facility determineswhether the company requires firms to upload unbilled amounts for theentire month or, alternatively, whether firms are allowed to uploadunbilled amounts for only a portion of the month. If at block 1503 thecompany requires firms to enter the entire “Current Month EstimatedBilling,” then, as in the prior situation, the firms' billing clerksgenerate the “Prior Months Unbilled Amount” for each matter directlyfrom their time and billing system and enter or upload the data into thefacility at a block 1504. In addition, either the firms' billing clerksor the firm attorneys also enter the “Current Month Estimated Billing”into the facility at block 1504. On the other hand, if at block 1503 thecompany allows the firm to upload unbilled amounts for a partial amountof the current month, then, as in the prior situation, the firms'billing clerks generate the “Prior Months Unbilled Amount” for eachmatter directly from their time and billing system and enter or uploadthe data into the facility at a block 1505. In addition, at block 1505,the firms' billing clerks also enter into the facility unbilled amountsfrom their time and billing system through a specified day of thecurrent month, and the facility automatically calculates the “CurrentMonth Estimate Billing” by prorating the unbilled amounts entered forthe partial month. Whether firms upload unbilled amounts for the entiremonth or for a portion of the month, after the accrual period lockdownevent occurs at a block 1507 a, the facility generates the UnbilledAmounts Total at a block 1508 by summing the Prior Months UnbilledAmount entered at block 1504 or 1505, the Current Month EstimatedBilling entered at block 1504 or calculated at block 1505, Invoices withDelivery on Hold (i.e., invoices that the firm has saved into thefacility, but which have not been delivered to the client for review andpayment), and other withheld amounts. The facility then generates theaccrual at a block 1511 by summing the Unbilled Amounts Total calculatedat one of blocks 1508, 1509, or 1510 and the Invoices Pending/Not Sentto AP.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to determine whether a firm user is required to enter budgetsfor a matter. The facility verifies at a decision block 1601 that thefirm profile in the facility is set up so that the firm can be requiredto enter budgets, at a decision block 1602 that there are one or morematters in which the firm is required to maintain budgets, and at adecision block 1603 that next year's budget is due or a reforecast isdue for this year. If all of those conditions are satisfied, then on theLaw Firm Input Start Date for the applicable month, at a block 1604 thefacility sends an email alert to the firm and also shows alerts to theappropriate firm users. If at a decision block 1605 a firm user thenenters or updates the budget for a matter, then at a block 1607 thefacility removes the dashboard alert for the matter. In someembodiments, if at block 1605 the firm has not entered or updated thebudget due for a matter, at a block 1606 the facility will send one ormore email reminder alerts. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 16, thefacility does not remove the alert at a block 1607 until the firm hasentered or updated the budget for the applicable matter. There are manydifferent types of alerts that can be shown to firm users. One examplean alert is a dashboard alert of matter data updates as shown in 1102 ofFIG. 11.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are typical user interfaces presented by the facilityto enable the user to prefill prior budget months with the spending andunbilled amounts. In some embodiments, if a user is editing a budget inwhich the billed plus unbilled amounts do not match the existing budgetamount relating to the existing budget period, the facility displays webpage 1700 in FIG. 17A to the user and notifies the user with an alert1701 that the billed plus unbilled amount does not match the existingbudget. The facility presents a control 1702 for specifying whether toprefill the budget edit amount. The user can choose an option 1706 notto prefill the budget, or select from a variety of options 1703-1705 toprefill the budget. If the user elects to prefill the budget page, thenthe facility presents the a second control 1707 that allows the user tochoose between an option 1709 to keep the same fiscal year total amountfor the budget, and an alternative option 1710 to adjust the fiscal yeartotal budget based on the variance of the billed plus unbilled amountthrough the current date. However, the facility does not allow the userto select option 1709 if the billed plus unbilled amount is alreadygreater than the current budget. When the user clicks the Continuebutton 1711, the facility opens the budget edit form 1710 in FIG. 17B,with the applicable spending amounts prefilled in the budget form fields1711. (In various embodiments, the facility presents the budget editform in any of the formats specified in FIGS. 17C-F.) In the embodimentsshown in FIG. 17B, the user can edit the prefilled amounts, while inother embodiments the web page displays the prefilled amounts as readonly. In some embodiments, the facility does not present a budgetprefill options page, but instead automatically prefills prior billedand, in some cases, unbilled amounts, and does not allow users to changesuch prefilled amounts when editing the budget.

FIGS. 17C-17G are various typical user interfaces presented by thefacility to enable the user to input a budget. The budget entry form1720 in FIG. 17C is an example of a monthly budget form, which containsfields 1721 into which the user can enter budget amounts for each monthin the fiscal year, as well as a field 1722 into which the user canenter a comment for each month. The facility also displays the fiscalyear total 1723 of the budget amounts entered for all of the months.

The budget entry form 1730 in FIG. 17D is an example of a quarterlybudget form, which includes a field 1732 into which the user enters abudget fees amount and a field 1733 into which the user enters a budgetexpenses amount for each quarter in the fiscal year, as well as a field1731 into which the user can enter a comment for each quarter. Thefacility displays a budget total 1734 for each quarter, which is the sumof the amounts entered by the user in fields 1732 and 1733. The facilitydisplays the total budget fees amount 1735, budget expenses amount 1736,and budget amount 1737 for the fiscal year.

The budget entry form 1740 in FIG. 17E is an example of an annual budgetform. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 17E, the form includes fields1741 into which the user enters the amounts through the month to date,and fields 1742 into which the user enters amounts for the remainingmonths. The facility also displays the total budget amount 1743 a,budget fees amount 1743 b, and budget expenses amount 1743 c for thefiscal year. In some embodiments, the annual form only includes anamount for the total year. The facility provides a field 1744 into whicha single comment or description of activities can be entered for eachyear. For prior fiscal years, only a single amount 1745 is shown for theyear (as is the case for a future fiscal year, which is not shown inFIG. 17E).

The budget entry form 1750 in FIG. 17F is an example of a phased budgetform, into which a user can enter a budget amount for each phase of amatter. The facility provides a control 1751 that allows a user tospecify the start month for the first phase. In the embodiments shown inFIG. 17F, the number and title of the phases are fixed, but in otherembodiments the number and titles of the phases are editable. The formprovides fields 1752 that allow the user to specify the activities ineach phase, as well as fields 1753 that allow the user to specify theduration of each phase. The fields for entering the amounts for eachphase can vary depending on their timing with respect to the company'sfiscal year. If the phase spans fiscal years, the facility includes dataentry fields 1754 for each fiscal year. If the phase is all within thesame fiscal year, the facility includes data entry fields 1755 only forthat fiscal year. The facility automatically sums and displays the total1756 of each data entry phase. The facility shows totals 1757 for eachphase, as well as totals 1758 for the entire matter.

In some embodiments, all of the examples shown in FIGS. 17C-F areaugmented with an additional display of “analysis” information. Forexample, FIG. 17G shows the annual budget form 1760 with an analysissection 1761 shown to the right of the budget entry form. The facilityprovides a control 1762 that enables the user to select to view variousbudget and spending information, such as the Prior Budget amount 1763minus the Billed+Unbilled amount 1764 to view the variance 1765 againstthe prior budget. Alternative views include (i) the current budget (asentered in the budget form) minus the Billed+Unbilled to view thevariance against the existing data as entered, (ii) the DepartmentalBudget minus the Billed+Unbilled to view the variance against theoriginal budget for the year, or (iii) the Departmental Budget minus thecurrent budget (as entered in the budget form) to view the variance ofthe current budget against the original budget for the year.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are sample table diagrams showing how the facilitydefines budget periods and stores monthly budget amounts. Table 1800 inFIG. 18A contains a Budget ID cell 1801, a budget format cell 1802(which could be monthly, quarterly, annual, a phased budget, or anyother format used by the facility), and a cell 1803 for the first budgetmonth. If the budget format is a type that has budget phases or periods,then the facility fills out the rest of the table with a succession ofcells 1804 indicating the phase names followed by cells 1805 indicatingthe end months of the phases for every phase or budget period for thebudget.

Table 1810 in FIG. 18B contains a cell 1801 for the Budget ID so thatthe data can be linked to Table 1800. Each successive row 1811-1831 thencontains the fees and expenses for each month in the budget, startingwith the first budget month (e.g., 1751 in FIG. 17F). Regardless of thebudget format, the data is stored in a monthly format (the method fordetermining the amount for each month is described in FIG. 19). For anybudget format other than a monthly format, when the budget data isdisplayed to an end user in an edit form or in read mode on a web page,the facility sums up the months for the applicable phase or period, togenerate the budget amounts for the period. For example, the totalbudget for the Initial Case Assessment & Handling Phase in FIG. 17F is$50,387 (1757 in FIG. 17F). This amount is obtained by adding themonthly budget data applicable to that phase in rows 1811-1818 (thefirst number for each row is the amount of budgeted fees, and the secondnumber in each row is the budgeted expenses). In addition, if the phasecovers more that one fiscal year, the facility calculates the subtotalof a phase for each fiscal year (1756 in FIG. 17F) by summing up theapplicable rows. In FIG. 17F, the Initial Case Assessment & HandlingPhase budget for fiscal year 2006 is $25,387, obtained by summing uprows 1811-1815. While FIGS. 18A and 18B demonstrate one possible methodfor storing budget data, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthere could be alternative data and table structures for the storing ofbudget data necessary to render the different budget formats.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram showing typical steps performed by thefacility to prefill spending data and to store budget data in themonthly budget tables in FIG. 18B. In particular, FIG. 19 shows anexample of the steps followed to prefill budget data in monthly amountsfor a user that is filling out an annual budget form such as in FIG.17E. If at a block 1901 a user selects to use the prefill options asillustrated in FIG. 17A, for each fiscal year, at a block 1902 thefacility first fills in months with any actual approved spending basedon the approved amount of the invoices and the service period end dateof the invoices. Next, at a block 1903 the facility fills in months withany pending invoices using the billed amount of the invoices and theservice period end date of the invoices. Next, at a decision block 1904if the firm has entered unbilled amounts into the facility covering aservice period after the last posted invoice, at a block 1905 thefacility fills in months with the unbilled amounts (and if the periodfor the unbilled time is greater than one month, then the facility willenter an straight-line average for each month). Finally, with respect tothe remaining months for the fiscal year, as determined at a decisionblock 1906, if at a decision block 1907 the amounts that have alreadybeen entered are less than the fiscal year total, at a block 1908 thefacility will take the total fiscal year budget less amounts that havealready been entered, and fill in the remaining months with astraight-line average for each month. On the other hand, if at block1907 the amounts that have already been entered exceed the prior budgetversion fiscal year total, then at a block 1909 the facility omits toprefill the remaining months, and the user must enter a value in thebudget edit form to save the budget (the amount for each month in thebudget table will be calculated from a straight-line average over thenumber of months remaining in the fiscal year, and the fiscal year totalbudget amount will have been increased). This analysis is performed foreach fiscal year of the budget. If the service period for approved orpending invoices is through the end of the fiscal year, the prefillprocess stops at that point regardless of whether at block 1904 thefacility determined that there were any unbilled amounts entered.

The following example relating to FIG. 17E illustrates the stepsdescribed in FIG. 19 when a user is editing an annual budget in August.For example, assume that the firm had submitted invoices, and thecompany had approved such invoices, in the amount of $3,500 for themonths of January-November 2006, and that the firm had submitted aninvoice for $564 for December 2006 (which is still pending), and that ithad also submitted unbilled time in the amount of $3,500 for Decemberfor 2006. The facility prefills budget months of January-November 2006with $3,500 each, and the facility prefills budget month for December2006 with $564, for a total budget prefilled for fiscal year 2006 of$42,564 (1746 of FIG. 17E). With respect to Fiscal Year 2007, assumethat the firm had submitted invoices, and the company had approved suchinvoices, in the amount of $1,000 for the months of January-April 2007,and that the firm had submitted an invoice for $5,748 for May 2007(which is still pending), and that it had also submitted unbilled timein the amount of $3,000. The facility prefills budget months ofJanuary-April 2007 with $1,000 each, the budget month for May 2007 with$5,748, the budget months of June and July 2007 with $1,500 each (whichis the straight-line average of $3,000 split over two months), and thebudget months of August-December 2007 with $8676.80 each (which is thestraight-line average of $43,384 split over five months; $43,384 is thebudget amounts remaining for the fiscal year after subtracting thebudget amounts for months January-July 2007), for a total budgetprefilled for fiscal year 2007 of $56,132 (1743 a of FIG. 17E). Theforegoing describes how the budget edit page was prefilled based on theuser's selection from the budget prefill option page in FIG. 17A.However, if the user changes one of the prefilled edit values and thensaves the budget form, the facility ignores the prefill options for thevalue that has been edited, and calculates monthly budget amounts forthe budget table using straight-line averages.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that there may be a variety ofprefill steps that a facility could use with respect to approved invoiceamounts, pending invoice amounts, and unbilled amounts. For example, ifa company has set up a matter such that a single accrual is stored forall firms in a matter, then the facility applies a different formula.The facility uses such a formula to generate a sum of all approved andpending invoices and the unbilled amounts and store in the budget tablethe straight-line average for each month. For example, assume that auser is editing a budget form in August 2007 and the approved invoicesfor the 2007 fiscal year are $20,000, the pending invoices are $15,000,and the unbilled amounts are $10,000 for all firms in the matter. Thefacility prefills the budget months of January-August 2007 with$6,428.57. The facility prefills the remaining months for the fiscalyear are filled with the straight-line average amount of the totalfiscal year budget minus $45,000 spread over five months. The facilityuses this formula, which is less accurate than the prior formula,because the approved and pending invoices for the different firms mayhave different service periods, making it impossible to know for whichmonths the unbilled amounts should be applied.

FIGS. 20A-20C are a flow diagram showing steps typically performed bythe facility to determine whether the facility shows dashboard alerts,sends email alerts, and displays matters on a “Company Financial ReviewPage” (i.e., a page that allows a company user to review and approve allpending financial data other than invoices). Beginning with FIG. 20A,the default rule is that if at a decision block 2001 a law firm hasentered or updated a matter budget, at a block 2002 the facility sendsan email to the applicable company user(s) and shows dashboard alerts.Even if the budget is also used as the Departmental Budget orReforecast, the facility continues to display the dashboard alerts untilat a decision block 2003 the company user has approved or updated thebudget. However, in addition to these budget alerts, if at a decisionblock 2004 the Departmental Budgeting module has been activated, if at adecision block 2005 a Departmental Budget or Reforecast is due, and ifat a decision block 2006 the company has not entered or updated arequired budget or if a law firm has entered or updated a budget but thecompany has not approved or if the company is responsible for the budgeton any particular matter, then on the Co. Input Start Date, at a block2007 in FIG. 20B the facility sends an email alert to the company userand shows dashboard and other alerts. The facility performs the sameanalysis with respect to unbilled amounts. If at a decision block 2008the accruals module is activated, if at a decision block 2009 thecompany requires firms to enter unbilled amounts before the end of themonth (which will require review), if at a decision block 2010 this is amonth in which the firms enter unbilled amounts, and if at a decisionblock 2011 there are one or more matters in which accruals are turned onand the firm is required to enter unbilled amounts, then on the Co.Input Start Date, at block 2007 the facility sends an email alert to thecompany user and shows dashboard and other alerts. If the DepartmentalBudgeting/Reforecasting or accruals requirements are not satisfied, thenat a block 2012 the facility sends no dashboard alerts or emails(except, however, if the alert relates to a budget entered or updated bythe firm, in which case the facility continues to display the alertuntil approved or updated by the company user). Turning to FIG. 20C,once the company user enters or approves the applicable data at adecision block 2013, then at a block 2014 the facility turns off thedashboard alerts. If the company user has not entered or updated theapplicable data by the Co. Reminder Date, then at a block 2015 thefacility sends a reminder email to the company user. If at a decisionblock 2016 the company user has not entered or updated the applicabledata by the Co. Input Cutoff Date, then at block 2014 the facility turnsoff the dashboard alerts, except, however, if the alert relates to abudget entered or updated by the firm, in which case the facilitycontinues to display the alert until approved or updated by the companyuser.

FIG. 21 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to alertcompany users if a Departmental Budget or Reforecast is due, review of alaw firm budget is required, or review of unbilled amounts is required.If a company user is responsible for the financial data in a matter (seeoption 213 in FIG. 2A), and if a law firm has a pending matter budget,or if the company is required to review or update any departmentalbudget or reforecast, then the user's dashboard 2100 displays an alert2101 indicating the number of matters for which one of these financialdata updates is required.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are typical user interfaces presented by the facilityto enable a company user to review and approve all pending financialdata with a single click, or edit any such amounts. Web page 2200(called the Company Financial Review Page) is a financial data reviewpage displayed to a company user, which shows financial data relating tothe fiscal year-to-date, including unbilled amount 2201, spending amount2202, and budget variance 2203. The facility also displays financialdata relating to reforecasts of spending for the fiscal year, includinga reforecast amount 2204 for the entire fiscal year, budget amount 2205remaining for the fiscal year, and variance 2206 from the originalbudget for the fiscal year. In addition, the facility displays nextyear's budget amount 2207. The facility provides a control 2208 toenable users to configure the web page to view only those matters withpending financial data or to view all matters. Although FIG. 22A showsan example of only one matter, the web page shows as many matters ashave been selected by the user. If there is a due date for the reviewand approval of certain data, the facility displays that due date 2209on the page. For each matter, a row 2210 contains data for the originalDepartmental Budget for the fiscal year. In the example shown in FIG.22A, the Departmental Budget is derived from a budget entered by thecompany, and is editable as a separate budget by selecting action 2211.Matters may be set up in such a way that the Departmental Budget isspecified to be the law firm budget, in which case the facility displaysa different indication for the Departmental Budget (in this example,(“LF”) rather than (“Co.”)). The Legend 2212 for the web page showswhich of the data on the page requires review and approval or updating.For example, if unbilled amounts that have been entered by firms arerequired to be reviewed and approved (option 246 in FIG. 2C), unbilledcells 2201 a for the applicable firms are highlighted in yellow. If thefirm failed to provide an unbilled amount, it is indicated by an alert2201 b, and the company user must enter an amount before being able toapprove the matter. If a Reforecast is due for the current fiscal year,reforecast cells 2204 a and 2205 a for the applicable matter arehighlighted in yellow. If next year's Departmental Budget is due, a cell2207 a for the applicable matter is highlighted in yellow.

If all of the data is correct or acceptable, the user can click an“Approve Financials” button 2213 to approve all the data for that matterwith one click. (See FIG. 23 for the algorithm used by the facility todetermine whether to allow one click approval of the data for a matter).If one click approval is not required, or if the user wants to editdata, the user can click a “view/edit financials” action (2211 or 2214)for the applicable row, which opens a dialog window, such as window 1210shown in FIG. 12B. This page enables the company user to enter or editthe unbilled amounts. Turning to FIG. 22B, if the user clicks a tab 2251to edit the budget amounts, the facility presents the user with a budgetedit page 2250 (or a budget prefill options page such as that depictedin FIG. 18A if the data meets the test to show the prefill optionspage). This budget page enables the user to update the current budget.If the applicable budget being edited is also the Reforecast budget forthe current fiscal year and next year's Departmental Budget, this budgetedit form also updates those amounts. In some situations, the web pagemay only show current and prior fiscal years, in which case the user canclick a button 2252 to Add Next Fiscal Year. If the user edits a row(such as by selecting action 2214 in FIG. 22A), the data for the rowwill be marked as approved with a green checkmark.

FIG. 23 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by thefacility to determine whether financial amounts for a matter can beapproved by company users with one click. When a company user clicks the“Approve Financials” button for a matter at a block 2301, the systemchecks the data for the matter to make sure there is no incomplete dataand that the data can be marked as approved. The facility verifies at adecision block 2302 that a Departmental Budget or Reforecast is not duefor the current fiscal year, verifies at a decision block 2303 that aDepartmental Budget is not due for the next fiscal year, verifies at adecision block 2304 that there are not any unbilled amounts due fromfirms, and verifies at a decision block 2305 that the billed plus theunbilled amount is not greater than the budget to date through thecurrent budget period for any budget in the matter. If any of theseconditions is not satisfied, the facility either displays an errormessage that explains what data is incomplete at a block 2306, or showsthe budget prefill options page (for editing the budget) with a messagethat the billed plus unbilled amount is greater than the budget for theapplicable period at a block 2307. If all of the conditions 2302-2305are satisfied, then at a block 2308 the facility marks all budgets andunbilled amounts for the matter as approved. Those skilled in the artwill recognize that there may be other data verifications that thefacility may complete before allowing a one-click approval.

FIG. 24 is a typical user interface presented by the facility to enablea company user to configure the facility to send accrual data to itsfinance department with each invoice, to allow the finance department toverify that the accrual balances maintained by the finance departmentmatch the accrual balances in the facility. The format of the data thatis delivered to AP is configured in a web page 2400. In the embodimentdisplayed in FIG. 24, the data is sent in the form of a text file(called the “AP Extract”), but other data formats could be used. Incolumn 2401, the facility provides a series of controls that enable theuser to select the columns of data to be included in the text file. Thedata options include the Accrual Period End Date 2402, the AccrualPeriod Law Firm 2403, the Accrual Period Ending Balance 2404, theRemaining Accrual Balance Prior to the AP Extract 2405, and theRemaining Accrual Balance After the AP Extract 2406. With this data, aperson in the company's finance department can associate the spending ofan invoice with a recorded accrual, and make sure that the invoice hasnot exceeded the accrual. For example, the Accrual Period End Date isthe end date of the accrual period that is applicable to this invoice.The Accrual Period Law Firm is the accrual against which the invoice isapplied (if a matter has been setup so that there are generic accrualsapplicable to multiple firms, the “law firm” would be identified as theapplicable generic accrual). The Accrual Period Ending Balance is theoriginal accrual amount from the applicable accrual. The RemainingAccrual Balance Prior to the AP Extract can be used to verify thecurrent accrual balance maintained by the finance department for theapplicable accrual. The Remaining Accrual Balance After the AP Extractcan be used to verify that accrual balance after payment of the invoicesin the AP extract matches the accrual balance by the finance department.

FIG. 25 is a table diagram showing a sample file to be sent by thefacility to a company's accounts payable department with approvedinvoice data and the related accrual data. The file contains columns2501 with various invoice data, plus the Accrual Period End Date incolumn 2502, the Accrual Period Law Firm in column 2503, the AccrualPeriod Ending Balance in column 2504, the Remaining Accrual BalancePrior to the AP Extract in column 2505, and the Remaining AccrualBalance After the AP Extract in column 2506. The Accrual Period LawFirms shown in column 2503 are actual firms, but the firm shown couldhave been “All firms” if the accrual was for all firms in the matter, orsome other generic identifier for groups of firms. If the invoicespending amount 2507 exceeds the Remaining Accrual Balance Prior to theAP Extract amount 2508, then the Remaining Accrual Balance After APExtract amount 2509 will be a negative number.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are a flow diagram showing steps typically performedby the facility to determine whether to show an invoice alert becausethe invoice amount exceeds the unbilled amounts in the applicableaccrual. Beginning with FIG. 26A, the process begins at a block 2601when a firm user posts an invoice to a matter. If (A) at a decisionblock 2602 there was a prior accrual in which the firm had manuallyentered unbilled amounts to which the invoice applies and the accrualperiod of such accrual is in the same fiscal year as the service periodend date of the invoice, and (B) at a decision block 2603 the invoicewas posted after the due date for the firm to have manually entered theunbilled amounts for the applicable accrual, then the facility conductsone or possibly two audits on the invoice. If either condition (A) atblock 2602 or condition (B) at block 2603 is not satisfied, then thefacility does not display an audit flag. On the other hand, if both ofthe conditions are satisfied, and if at a decision block 2605 thecompany requires firms to enter unbilled amounts before the end of theaccrual period, then the facility conducts a first audit on the invoice.At a block 2606 the facility initializes a total invoice amount for thecurrent month and a total invoice amount for the prior months since theaccrual. Turning to FIG. 26B, at a block 2607 the facility selects thereceived invoice, and at a decision block 2608 the facility determineswhether the Invoice Service Period End Date is within the “CurrentMonth” of the most recent qualifying accrual. If the Invoice ServicePeriod End Date is within the “Current Month” of the most recentqualifying accrual, at a block 2609 the facility adds the invoice to thetotal invoice amount for the current month. At a decision block 2610 thefacility determines whether there are any remaining invoices to audit.If there are other invoices to audit, at a block 2619 the facilityselects the next invoice and continues to audit the remaining invoices.If no invoices remain at block 2610, the facility proceeds to a decisionblock 2611 where it determines whether the total invoice amount for thecurrent month exceeds the “Estimated Billing for the Current Month.” Ifthe total invoice amount for the current month exceeds the “EstimatedBilling for the Current Month,” then at a block 2612 the facilitydisplays an audit flag. Otherwise, the facility does not display anaudit flag. If at block 2608 the Invoice Service Period End Date is notwithin the “Current Month” of the most recent qualifying accrual, or ifat block 2605 (in FIG. 26A) the company requires firms to enter unbilledamounts after the end of the accrual period, the facility conducts asecond audit on the invoice. If the company requires firms to enterunbilled amounts after the end of the accrual period, as determined atblock 2605, at a block 2613 the facility initializes the total invoiceamount for the prior months since the accrual. At a decision block 2614the facility determines whether the Invoice Service Period End Date ison or before the “Accrual Period—Through Last Month End Date” of themost recent qualifying accrual. If it is, at a block 2615 the facilityadds the invoice to the total invoice amount for the prior months sincethe accrual. Regardless of the determination made at block 2614, at adecision block 2616 the facility determines whether there are anyremaining invoices to audit. If there are other invoices to audit, thefacility proceeds to block 2619 to select the next invoice and continueto audit the remaining invoices. If no invoices remain at block 2616,the facility proceeds to a decision block 2617 where it determineswhether the total invoice amount for the prior months since the accrualexceeds the “Prior Months Unbilled Amount.” If the total invoice amountfor the prior months since the accrual exceeds the “Prior MonthsUnbilled Amount,” then at a block 2618 the facility displays an auditflag. Otherwise, the facility does not display an audit flag.

FIG. 27 is a display diagram of a typical user interface presented bythe facility to alert the user that the invoice amount exceeds theaccrual remaining balance. In the audit exceptions worksheet 2700 for aninvoice, the facility displays an accrual alert 2701. The facilitydisplays the end date 2702 of the applicable accrual period, as well aswhether the unbilled amount is for the prior months 2703 or is thecurrent month estimate (not shown). In this audit exceptions worksheet,the facility shows the original unbilled amount 2704 from the accrual,as well as the spending amount 2705 for the invoices that apply againstthe applicable unbilled amount. In various embodiments, the spendingamount for the invoices that apply against the applicable unbilledamount is the amount of the invoice that generated the audit alertand/or the sum of the current invoice plus all other previously postedinvoices that apply against this accrual. Note that the facility doesnot show the accrual period ending balance, because that is not theapplicable amount, as it may include pending invoices that have not beensent to AP, which is not relevant to the firm's invoices that are nowbeing posted. Thus, the audit flag shows only that portion of theaccrual that relates to the invoices being posted—the unbilled amount.The facility also displays the variance 2706, or the amount by which thespending exceeds the accrual amount. The facility presents a control2707 with a drop down selection for the user to specify how to addressthe situation. For example, the user can select an option to reduce theinvoice so that the spending matches the unbilled amount, or the usercan choose to ignore or manually adjust the invoice amount.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that theabove-described facility may be straightforwardly adapted or extended invarious ways. For example, the facility may be used in combination withvarious electronic billing systems and other forms of intermediaryservices. While the foregoing description makes reference to particularembodiments, the scope of the invention is defined solely by the claimsthat follow and the elements recited therein.

We claim:
 1. A method for providing a billing system, the methodcomprising: generating, by the billing system, a matter cross-referencetable that provides a data structure configured to map one lawfirm-specific identifier with one client-specific identifier; storing,by the billing system, the matter cross-reference table in computermemory; permitting, by the billing system, at least one law firm toupload, to the billing system via a network communication link, anunbilled amount for each of one or more first matters for a client, theunbilled amount being a monetary amount of accrued expenses for which noinvoice has been generated by the law firm, wherein the unbilled amountis generated in a law firm-specific billing system and is uploadedaccording to a law firm-specific identifier associated with the firstmatter; accessing, by the billing system for at least one uploadedunbilled amount, the matter cross-reference table to identify aclient-specific identifier associated with one or more second matterscorresponding to the law firm-specific identifier associated with the atleast one uploaded unbilled amount; assigning, by the billing system,the at least one uploaded unbilled amount to the client-specificidentifier associated with one or more second matters; receiving, by thebilling system, a client request to view the at least one uploadedunbilled amount for the one or more second matters from among the one ormore first matters via the network communication link, wherein theclient is associated with the client-specific identifier; providing, bythe billing system, the client the at least one uploaded unbilled amountfor one or more second matters, wherein the at least one uploadedunbilled amount for each of the one or more second matters is providedaccording to the client-specific identifier associated with the secondmatter; providing an iconic indication that at least one dollar valuecorresponding to at least one unbilled amount relates to at least onematter for which incomplete information has been received from the lawfirm; and providing a user interface control with respect to which theclient can perform a single interaction to approve the unbilled amountsfor a plurality of matters.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mattercross-reference table maps multiple law firm-specific identifiers to asingle client-specific identifier.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising aggregating the at least one uploaded unbilled amount togenerate a total unbilled amount.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinmultiple law firms upload unbilled amounts and the uploaded unbilledamounts from the multiple law firms are aggregated to generate a totalunbilled amount.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first law firm useruploads unbilled amounts generated by the law firm-specific billingsystem, and wherein a second law firm user uploads unbilled amounts thatare not generated by the law firm-specific billing system.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the client has an accounts payable department thatreceives law firm invoices, the method further comprising: receiving forthe client from a first law firm invoices for one or more distinguishedmatters; omitting to send the invoices to the client's accounts payabledepartment; and determining an accrual amount by summing at least oneuploaded unbilled amount and the amounts of the invoices.
 7. The methodof claim 6, further comprising: soliciting from the client inputspecifying either that (1) unbilled amounts are to be received from thefirst law firm before an end of an accrual period or that (2) unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm after the end of theaccrual period; receiving from the client the solicited input; inresponse to receiving from the client input specifying that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm before the end of theaccrual period: receiving from the first law firm unbilled amounts forprior months and an estimate of unbilled amounts for a current month,determining an unbilled amounts total by summing the unbilled amountsfor prior months and the estimate of unbilled amounts for the currentmonth, and determining the accrual amount by summing the unbilledamounts total and the amounts of the invoices; and in response toreceiving from the client input specifying that unbilled amounts are tobe received from the first law firm after the end of the accrual period:receiving from the first law firm unbilled amounts for prior months, anddetermining the accrual amount by summing the unbilled amounts for priormonths and the amounts of the invoices.
 8. The method of claim 7,further comprising, in response to receiving from the client inputspecifying that unbilled amounts are to be received from the first lawfirm before the end of the accrual period: receiving an indication ofwhether the estimate of unbilled amounts for the current month is (1) anestimate for an entirety of the current month or (2) an estimate for aportion of the current month; in response to receiving an indicationthat the estimate of unbilled amounts for the current month is anestimate for the entirety of the current month: determining the unbilledamounts total by summing the unbilled amounts for prior months and theestimate of unbilled amounts for the entirety of the current month; andin response to receiving an indication that the estimate of unbilledamounts for the current month is an estimate for a portion of thecurrent month: determining an estimate of unbilled amounts for theentirety of the current month by prorating the estimate for the portionof the current month, and determining the unbilled amounts total bysumming the unbilled amounts for prior months and the estimate ofunbilled amounts for the entirety of the current month.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the indication is received from the client.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the indication is received from the first lawfirm.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the unbilled amounts totalfurther includes (1) invoices that have been uploaded by the first lawfirm but have not been delivered to the client and (2) any otherwithheld amounts.
 12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:soliciting from the client input specifying either that (1) unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm before an end of anaccrual period or that (2) unbilled amounts are to be received from thefirst law firm after the end of the accrual period; receiving from theclient the solicited input; responsive to receiving from the clientinput specifying that unbilled amounts are to be received from the firstlaw firm before the end of the accrual period: receiving from the firstlaw firm an estimate of unbilled amounts for a current month,determining the accrual amount by summing the estimate of unbilledamounts for the current month and the amounts of the invoices; andresponsive to receiving from the client input specifying that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm after the end of theaccrual period: determining the accrual amount by summing the amounts ofthe invoices.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the client has anaccounts payable department that receives law firm invoices, the methodfurther comprising: receiving for the client from a law firm an invoicefor a distinguished matter; determining, for the distinguished matter,that at least one unbilled amount is uploaded by the law firm before anend of a month; and omitting to send the invoice to the client'saccounts payable department.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein theclient has an accounts payable department that receives law firminvoices, the method further comprising: receiving for the client from afirst law firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; determining, forthe distinguished matter, that an unbilled amount is uploaded by thefirst law firm during a review period during which the client reviewsunbilled amounts; and omitting to send the invoice to the client'saccounts payable department.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein theclient has an accounts payable department that receives vendor invoices,the method further comprising: receiving for the client from a first lawfirm an invoice for a distinguished matter; determining, for thedistinguished matter, that an unbilled amount is uploaded by the firstlaw firm during a review period during which the client reviews unbilledamounts; and reducing the unbilled amount by the amount of the invoice.16. The method of claim 1, wherein the client has an accounts payabledepartment that receives law firm invoices, the method furthercomprising: receiving for the client from a first law firm an invoicefor a distinguished matter; determining, for the distinguished matter,that an unbilled amount is uploaded by the first law firm during areview period during which the client reviews unbilled amounts;permitting the first law firm to upload the invoice for thedistinguished matter; omitting to deliver the invoice to the client forreview during the review period; omitting to include the invoice in anyunbilled amount that has been uploaded for the distinguished matter; andsending the invoice to the client's accounts payable department afterthe review period has elapsed and an accrual amount has been generated.17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a summary ofunbilled amounts for the plurality of matters, wherein the userinterface control is provided simultaneously with the providing of thesummary.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the provided summary is asummary of unbilled amounts across a plurality of law firms.
 19. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the summary comprises a plurality of dollarvalues that includes the at least one dollar value further comprising:simultaneously with the providing of the summary and the providing ofthe user interface control, providing with respect to at least one ofthe plurality of dollar values a second iconic indication that the atleast one of the plurality of dollar value values relates to at leastone law firm matter budget that requires approval.
 20. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the provided summary is comprised comprises aplurality of dollar values that includes the at least one dollar value,further comprising: and wherein the iconic indication is providedsimultaneously with the providing of the summary and the providing ofthe user interface control.
 21. The method of claim 17, wherein thesummary comprises a plurality of dollar values that includes the atleast one dollar value further comprising: providing with respect to atleast one of the plurality of dollar values a second iconic indicationthat the at least one of the plurality of dollar values relates to atleast one matter for which an unbilled amount has been estimated on abasis of matter budgets.
 22. The method of claim 1, wherein the clienthas an accounts payable department that receives vendor invoices,further comprising: receiving for the client from a law firm an invoicefor a distinguished matter; and sending to the client's accounts payabledepartment an invoice payment file that includes the received invoice,an accrual amount against which the received invoice applies, anoriginal accrual amount, a balance prior to receiving the invoice, and abalance after receiving the invoice.
 23. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving for the client from a law firm an invoice for adistinguished matter; and generating an audit flag in response todetermining that the received invoice exceeds an unbilled amount thathas been uploaded for the distinguished matter.
 24. The method of claim1, further comprising: requiring the client to review and approve theprovided at least one uploaded unbilled amount for the one or moresecond matters; and providing to the client an indication that theprovided at least one uploaded unbilled amount is to be reviewed andapproved.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising: in response todetermining that a first law firm has failed to upload at least oneunbilled amount for one or more matters for which an unbilled amount isrequired to be uploaded: requiring the client to enter at least oneunbilled amount for the one or more matters for which the first law firmhas failed to upload at least one unbilled amount before the client canapprove the one or more matters.
 26. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: maintaining a list of one or more law firm users to whomnotifications will be sent that unbilled amounts are due for one or morematters; and notifying the one or more law firm users on the list thatunbilled amounts are due for one or more matters.
 27. A billing systemcomprising at least one memory and at least one processor the billingsystem comprising: an initialization component configured to generate amatter cross-reference table that provides a data structure configuredto map one law firm-specific identifier with one client-specificidentifier; a matter management component configured to store the mattercross-reference table in the at least one memory; a law firm interfaceconfigured to receive from each of at least one law firm, for each ofone or more first matters for a client, an unbilled amount for the firstmatter uploaded to the billing system via a network communication link,the unbilled amount being a monetary amount of accrued expenses forwhich no invoice has been generated by the law firm, wherein theunbilled amount is generated in a law firm-specific billing system andis uploaded according to a law firm-specific identifier associated withthe first matter; a cross-referencing component configured to, for atleast one uploaded unbilled amount, access the matter cross-referencetable to identify a client specific identifier associated with one ormore second matters corresponding to the law firm-specific identifierassociated with the at least one uploaded unbilled amount; aharmonization component configured to assign the at least one uploadedunbilled amount to the client-specific identifier associated with one ormore second matters; a client interface configured to receive a clientrequest to view the at least one uploaded unbilled amount for the one ormore second matters from among the one or more first matters via thenetwork communication link, wherein the client is associated with theclient-specific identifier; and a provisioning component configured to:provide the client the at least one uploaded unbilled amount for one ormore second matters, wherein the at least one uploaded unbilled amountfor each of one or more second matters is provided according to theclient-specific identifier associated with the second matter; provide aniconic indication that at least one dollar value corresponding to atleast one unbilled amount relates to at least one matter for whichincomplete information has been received from the law firm; and providea user interface control with respect to which the client can perform asingle interaction to approve the unbilled amounts for a plurality ofmatters, wherein at least one of the initialization component, thecross-referencing component, the harmonization component, and theprovisioning component comprises computer-executable instructions storedin the at least one memory for execution by the at least one processor.28. The system of claim 27, wherein the matter cross-reference tablemaps multiple law firm-specific identifiers to a single client-specificidentifier.
 29. The system of claim 27, further comprising anaggregation component configured to aggregate the at least one uploadedbilled amount to generate a total unbilled amount.
 30. The system ofclaim 27, wherein multiple law firms upload unbilled amounts via the lawfirm interface, and wherein the system further comprises an aggregationcomponent configured to aggregate the uploaded unbilled amounts from themultiple law firms to generate a total unbilled amount.
 31. The systemof claim 27, wherein a first law firm user uploads via the law firminterface unbilled amounts generated by the first law firm-specificbilling system, and wherein a second law firm user uploads via the lawfirm interface unbilled amounts that are not generated by the first lawfirm-specific billing system.
 32. The system of claim 27, wherein theclient has an accounts payable department that receives law firminvoices, and wherein the law firm interface is further configured toreceive for the client from a first law firm invoices for one or moredistinguished matters, and wherein the system further comprises: ascreening component configured to omit to send the invoices to theclient's accounts payable department; and an analysis componentconfigured to generate an accrual amount by summing at least oneuploaded unbilled amount and the amounts of the invoices.
 33. The systemof claim 27, wherein the client interface further comprises: aninteraction component configured to solicit from the client inputspecifying either that (1) unbilled amounts are to be received from thefirst law firm before an end of an accrual period or that (2) unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm after the end of theaccrual period, and further configured to receive from the client thesolicited input; and an analysis component configured to generate anaccrual amount, and wherein, in response to determining that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm before the end of theaccrual period: the law firm interface is further configured to receivefrom the first law firm unbilled amounts for prior months and anestimate of unbilled amounts for a current month; and wherein theanalysis component is further configured to: determine an unbilledamounts total by summing the unbilled amounts for prior months and theestimate of unbilled amounts for the current month, and determine anaccrual amount by summing the unbilled amounts total and the amounts ofthe invoices, and wherein, in response to determining that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm after the end of theaccrual period: the law firm interface is further configured to receivefrom the first law firm unbilled amounts for prior months; and theanalysis component is configured to determine the accrual amount bysumming the unbilled amounts for prior months and the amounts of theinvoices.
 34. The system of claim 33, wherein, in response todetermining that unbilled amounts are to be received from the first lawfirm before the end of the accrual period, the interaction component isfurther configured to receive an indication of whether the estimate ofunbilled amounts for the current month is (1) an estimate for anentirety of the current month or (2) an estimate for a portion of thecurrent month, and wherein, in response to determining that the estimateof the unbilled amounts for the current month is an estimate for theentirety of the current month: the analysis component is configured todetermine the unbilled amounts total by summing the unbilled amounts forprior months and the estimate of unbilled amounts for the entirety ofthe current month, and wherein, in response to determining that theestimate of the unbilled amounts for the current month is an estimatefor a portion of the current month: the analysis component is configuredto: determine an estimate of unbilled amounts for the entirety of thecurrent month by prorating the estimate for the portion of the currentmonth, and determine the unbilled amounts total by summing the unbilledamounts for prior months and the estimate of unbilled amounts for theentirety of the current month.
 35. The system of claim 34, wherein theinteraction component receives the indication from the client.
 36. Thesystem of claim 34, wherein the interaction component receives theindication from the first law firm.
 37. The system of claim 34, whereinthe unbilled amounts total determined by the analysis component furtherincludes (1) invoices that have been uploaded by the first law firm buthave not been delivered to the client and (2) any other withheldamounts.
 38. The system of claim 27, wherein the client interfacefurther comprises: an interaction component configured to solicit fromthe client input specifying either that (1) unbilled amounts are to bereceived from the first law firm before an end of an accrual period orthat (2) unbilled amounts are to be received from the first law firmafter the end of the accrual period, and receive from the client thesolicited input; and an analysis component configured to generate anaccrual amount, and wherein, in response to determining that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm before the end of theaccrual period: the law firm interface is further configured to receivefrom the first law firm an estimate of unbilled amounts for a currentmonth; and the analysis component is further configured to determine anaccrual amount by summing the estimate of unbilled amounts for thecurrent month and the amounts of the invoices, and wherein, in responseto determining that unbilled amounts are to be received from the firstlaw firm after the end of the accrual period: the analysis component isfurther configured to determine the accrual amount by summing theamounts of the invoices.
 39. The system of claim 27, wherein the clienthas an accounts payable department that receives law firm invoices, andwherein the law firm interface is further configured to receive for theclient from a first law firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; andwherein the system further comprises a screening component configuredto: for the distinguished matter, determine that at least one unbilledamount is uploaded by the first law firm before an end of a month, andomit to send the invoice to the client's accounts payable department.40. The system of claim 27, wherein the client has an accounts payabledepartment that receives law firm invoices, and wherein the law firminterface is further configured to receive for the client from a firstlaw firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; and wherein the systemfurther comprises a screening component configured to: for thedistinguished matter, determine that at least one unbilled amount isuploaded by the first law firm during a review period during which theclient reviews unbilled amounts, and omit to send the invoice to theclient's accounts payable department.
 41. The system of claim 27,wherein the client has an accounts payable department that receives lawfirm invoices, and wherein the law firm interface is further configuredto receive for the client from a first law firm an invoice for adistinguished matter; and wherein the system further comprises ascreening component configured to: for the distinguished matter,determine that an unbilled amount is uploaded by the first law firmduring a review period during which the client reviews unbilled amounts,and reduce the unbilled amount by the amount of the invoice.
 42. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the client has an accounts payabledepartment that receives law firm invoices, and wherein the law firminterface is further configured to receive for the client from a firstlaw firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; and wherein the systemfurther comprises a screening component configured to: for thedistinguished matter, determine that an unbilled amount is uploaded bythe first law firm during a review period during which the clientreviews unbilled amounts, permit the first law firm to upload theinvoice for the distinguished matter, omit to deliver the invoice to theclient for review during the review period, omit to include the invoicein any unbilled amount that has been uploaded for the distinguishedmatter, and send the invoice to the client's accounts payable departmentafter the review period has elapsed and an accrual amount has beengenerated.
 43. The system of claim 27, wherein the provisioningcomponent is further configured to: provide a summary of unbilledamounts for the plurality of matters, wherein the user interface controlis provided simultaneously with the providing of the summary.
 44. Thesystem of claim 43, wherein the summary is a summary of unbilled amountsacross a plurality of law firms.
 45. The system of claim 43, wherein thesummary comprises a plurality of dollar values that includes the atleast one dollar value, and wherein the provisioning component isfurther configured to provide with respect to at least one of the dollarvalues a second iconic indication that the at least one of the pluralityof dollar values relates to at least one law firm matter budget thatrequires approval.
 46. The system of claim 43, wherein the summary iscomprised of a plurality of dollar values that includes the at least onedollar value, and wherein the iconic indication is providedsimultaneously with the providing of the summary and the user interfacecontrol.
 47. The system of claim 43, wherein the summary is comprised ofa plurality of dollar values that includes the at least one dollarvalue, and wherein the provisioning component is further configured to:provide with respect to at least one of the plurality of dollar values asecond iconic indication that the at least one of the plurality ofdollar values relates to at least one matter for which at least oneunbilled amount has been estimated on a basis of matter budgets.
 48. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the client has an accounts payabledepartment that receives law firm invoices, and wherein the law firminterface is further configured to receive for the client from a lawfirm an invoice for a distinguished matter, and wherein the billingsystem further comprises an output component configured to send to theclient's accounts payable department an invoice payment file thatincludes the received invoice, an accrual amount against which thereceived invoice applies, an original accrual amount, a balance prior toreceiving the invoice, and a balance after receiving the invoice. 49.The system of claim 27, wherein the law firm interface is furtherconfigured to receive for the client from a law firm an invoice for adistinguished matter, and wherein the system further comprises an auditcomponent configured to generate an audit flag in response todetermining that the received invoice exceeds an unbilled amount thathas been uploaded for the distinguished matter.
 50. The system of claim27, wherein the client interface is further configured to require aclient user to review and approve the provided at least one uploadedunbilled amount for the one or more second matters, and wherein theprovisioning component is further configured to provide to the client anindication that the provided at least one uploaded unbilled amount is tobe reviewed and approved.
 51. The system of claim 50, wherein inresponse determining that a first law firm has failed to upload at leastone unbilled amount for one or more matters for which an unbilled amountis required to be uploaded: the client interface is further configuredto require the client to enter at least one unbilled amount for the oneor more matters for which the first law firm has failed to upload atleast one unbilled amount before the client can approve the one or morematters.
 52. The system of claim 27, wherein the law firm interfacefurther comprises: an identification component configured to maintain alist of one or more law firm users to whom notifications will be sentthat unbilled amounts are due for one or more matters; and anotification component configured to notify the one or more law firmusers on the list that unbilled amounts are due for one or more matters.53. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program coderecorded, thereon for providing a billing system, the program codecomprising: program code for causing a computer to generate a mattercross-reference table that provides a data structure configured to mapone law firm-specific identifier with one client-specific identifier;program code for causing the computer to store the mattercross-reference table in computer memory; program code for causing thecomputer to permit at least one law firm to upload, for each of one ormore first matters for a client, an unbilled amount for the first matterto the billing system via a network communication link, the unbilledamount being a monetary amount of accrued expenses for which no invoicehas been generated by the law firm, wherein the unbilled amount isgenerated in a law firm-specific billing system and is uploadedaccording to a law firm-specific identifier associated with the firstmatter; program code for causing the computer to access, for at leastone uploaded unbilled amount, the matter cross-reference table toidentify a client-specific identifier associated with one or more secondmatters corresponding to the law firm-specific identifier associatedwith the at least one uploaded unbilled amount; program code for causingthe computer to assign the at least one uploaded unbilled amount to theclient-specific identifier associated with one or more second matters;program code for causing the computer to receive a client request toview the at least one uploaded unbilled amount for the one or moresecond matters from among the one or more first matters via the networkcommunication link, wherein the client is associated with theclient-specific identifier; program code for causing the computer toprovide to the client the at least one uploaded unbilled amount for oneor more second matters, wherein the at least one uploaded unbilledamount for each of the one or more second matters is provided accordingto the client-specific identifier associated with the second matter;program code for causing the computer to provide an iconic indicationthat at least one dollar value corresponding to at least one unbilledamount relates to at least one matter for which incomplete informationhas been received from the law firm; and program code for causing thecomputer to provide a user interface control with respect to which theclient can perform a single interaction to approve the unbilled amountsfor a plurality of matters.
 54. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 53, wherein the matter cross-reference table mapsmultiple law firm-specific identifiers to a single client-specificidentifier.
 55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53,wherein the program code further comprises program code to aggregate theat least one uploaded unbilled amount to generate a total unbilledamount.
 56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53,wherein multiple law firms upload unbilled amounts and the uploadedunbilled amounts from the multiple law firms are aggregated to generatea total unbilled amount.
 57. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 53, wherein a first law firm user uploads unbilled amountsgenerated by a first law firm-specific billing system, and wherein asecond law firm user uploads unbilled amounts that are not generated bythe first law firm-specific billing system.
 58. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the client has an accountspayable department that receives law firm invoices, and wherein theprogram code further comprises: program code for causing the computer toreceive for the client from a first law firm invoices for one or moredistinguished matters; program code for causing the computer to omit tosend the invoices to the client's accounts payable department; andprogram code for causing the computer to determine an accrual amount bysumming at least one uploaded unbilled amount and the amounts of theinvoices.
 59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 58,wherein the program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to solicit from the client input specifying either that (1)unbilled amounts are to be received from the first law firm before anend of an accrual period or that (2) unbilled amounts are to be receivedfrom the first law firm after the end of the accrual period; programcode for causing the computer to receive from the client the solicitedinput; in response to receiving from the client input specifying thatunbilled amounts are to be received from the law firm before the end ofthe accrual period: program code for causing the computer to receivefrom the first law firm unbilled amounts for prior months and anestimate of unbilled amounts for a current month, program code forcausing the computer to determine an unbilled amounts total by summingthe unbilled amounts for prior months and the estimate of unbilledamounts for the current month, and program code for causing the computerto determine the accrual amount by summing the unbilled amounts totaland the amounts of the invoices; and in response to receiving from theclient input specifying that unbilled amounts are to be received fromthe law firm after the end of the accrual period: program code forcausing the computer to receive from the first law firm unbilled amountsfor prior months, and program code for causing the computer to determinethe accrual amount by summing the unbilled amounts for prior months andthe amounts of the invoices.
 60. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 59, wherein the program code further comprises inresponse to receiving from the client input specifying that unbilledamounts are to be received from the first law firm before the end of theaccrual period: program code for causing the computer to receive anindication of whether the estimate of unbilled amounts for the currentmonth is (1) an estimate for an entirety of the current month or (2) anestimate for a portion of the current month; in response to receiving anindication that the estimate of unbilled amounts for the current monthis an estimate for the entirety of the current month: program code forcausing the computer to determine the unbilled amounts total by summingthe unbilled amounts for prior months and the estimate of unbilledamounts for the entirety of the current month; and in response toreceiving an indication that the estimate of unbilled amounts for thecurrent month is an estimate for a portion of the current month: programcode for causing the computer to determine an estimate of unbilledamounts for the entirety of the current month by prorating the estimatefor the portion of the current month, and program code for causing thecomputer to determine the unbilled amounts total by summing the unbilledamounts for prior months and the estimate of unbilled amounts for theentirety of the current month.
 61. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 60, wherein the indication is received from the client.62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 60, wherein theindication is received from the first law firm.
 63. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 60, wherein the unbilled amounts totalfurther includes (1) invoices that have been uploaded by the first lawfirm but have not been delivered to the client and (2) any otherwithheld amounts.
 64. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 58, wherein the program code further comprises: program code forcausing the computer to solicit from the client input specifying eitherthat (1) unbilled amounts are to be received from the law firm before anend of an accrual period or that (2) unbilled amounts are to be receivedfrom the law firm after the end of the accrual period; program code forcausing the computer to receive from the client the solicited input; inresponse to receiving from the client input specifying that unbilledamounts are to be received from the law firm before the end of theaccrual period: program code for causing the computer to receive fromthe first law firm an estimate of unbilled amounts for a current month,program code for causing the computer to determine the accrual amount bysumming the estimate of unbilled amounts for the current month and theamounts of the invoices; and in response to receiving from the clientinput specifying that unbilled amounts are to be received from the firstlaw firm after the end of the accrual period: program code for causingthe computer to determine the accrual amount by summing the amounts ofthe invoices.
 65. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim53, wherein the client has an accounts payable department that receiveslaw firm invoices, and wherein the program code further comprises:program code for causing the computer to receive for the client from alaw firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; for the distinguishedmatter, program code for causing the computer to determine that at leastone unbilled amount is uploaded by the law firm before an end of amonth; and program code for causing the computer to omit to send theinvoice to the client's accounts payable department.
 66. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the clienthas an accounts payable department that receives law firm invoices, andwherein the program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to receive for the client from a first law firm an invoice fora distinguished matter; for the distinguished matter, program code forcausing the computer to determine that an unbilled amount is uploaded bythe first law firm during a review period during which the clientreviews unbilled amounts; and program code for causing the computer toomit to send the invoice to the client's accounts payable department.67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein theclient has an accounts payable department that receives law firminvoices, and wherein the program code further comprises: program codefor causing the computer to receive for the client from a first law firman invoice for a distinguished matter; for the distinguished matter,program code for causing the computer to determine that an unbilledamount for the distinguished matter is uploaded by the law firm during areview period during which the client reviews unbilled amounts; andprogram code for causing the computer to reduce the unbilled amount bythe amount of the invoice.
 68. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 53, wherein the client has an accounts payabledepartment that receives law firm invoices, and wherein the program codefurther comprises: program code for causing the computer to receive forthe client from a law firm an invoice for a distinguished matter; forthe distinguished matter, program code for causing the computer todetermine that an unbilled amount is uploaded by the first law firmduring a review period during which the client reviews unbilled amounts;program code for causing the computer to permit the first law firm toupload the invoice for the distinguished matter; program code forcausing the computer to omit to deliver the invoice to the client forreview during the review period; program code for causing the computerto omit to include the invoice in any unbilled amount that has beenuploaded for the distinguished matter; and program code for causing thecomputer to send the invoice to the client's accounts payable departmentafter the review period has elapsed and an accrual amount has beengenerated.
 69. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53,wherein the program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to provide a summary of unbilled amounts for the plurality ofmatters, wherein the user interface is provided simultaneously with theproviding of the summary.
 70. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 69, wherein the summary is a summary of unbilled amountsacross a plurality of law firms.
 71. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 69, wherein the summary is comprisedof a plurality of dollar values that includes the at least one dollarvalue and wherein the program code further comprises: program code forcausing the computer to provide with respect to at least one of theplurality of dollar values a second iconic indication that the at leastone of the plurality of dollar values relates to a law firm matterbudget that requires approval.
 72. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 69, wherein the summary is comprised of a plurality ofdollar values that includes the at least one dollar value, and whereinthe program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to provide the iconic indication simultaneously with theproviding of the summary and the providing of the user interfacecontrol.
 73. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 69,wherein the summary is comprised of a plurality of dollar values thatincludes the at least one dollar value, and wherein the program codefurther comprises: program code for causing the computer to provide withrespect to at least one of the plurality of dollar values a secondiconic indication that the at least one of the plurality of dollarvalues relates to at least one matter for which at least one unbilledamount has been estimated on a basis of matter budgets.
 74. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the clienthas an accounts payable department that receives law firm invoices, andwherein the program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to receive for the client from a law firm an invoice for adistinguished matter; and program code for causing the computer to sendto the client's accounts payable department an invoice payment file thatincludes the received invoice, an accrual amount against which thereceived invoice applies, an original accrual amount, a balance prior toreceiving the invoice, and a balance after receiving the invoice. 75.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein theprogram code further comprises: program code for causing the computer toreceive for the client from a law firm an invoice for a distinguishedmatter; and program code for causing the computer to generate an auditflag in response to determining that the received invoice exceeds anunbilled amount that has been uploaded for the distinguished matter. 76.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein theprogram code further comprises: program code for causing the computer torequire the client to review and approve the provided at least oneuploaded unbilled amount for the one or more second matters; and programcode for causing the computer to provide to the client an indicationthat the provided at least one uploaded unbilled amount is to bereviewed and approved.
 77. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 76, wherein the program code further comprises: program codefor causing the computer to require, in response to determining that afirst law firm has failed to upload at least one unbilled amount for oneor more matters for which an unbilled amount is required to be uploaded,the client to enter at least one unbilled amount for the one or morematters for which the first law firm has failed to upload at least oneunbilled amount before a client user can approve the one or morematters.
 78. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 53,wherein the program code further comprises: program code for causing thecomputer to maintain a list of one or more law firm users to whomnotifications will be sent that unbilled amounts are due for one or morematters; and program code for causing the computer to notify the one ormore law firm users on the list that unbilled amounts are due for one ormore matters.